Circus For A Psycho
by Copperpelt
Summary: The circus is supposed to be a place of fun and laughter, but not Circo Insanus. On the outside, it appears to be a new, modern-style circus, but on the inside, it harbors a dark, sinister secret, one that has remained hidden for years. But when the Brawlers go to take in a show, it ends up going from a night of fun, to a fight for survival. Based off the Skillet song. R&R PLZ!
1. Setting The Stage

_~O~_

Within the dark confines of a large tent, a man stood in the middle of a vast performance ring, one that was surrounded by empty seats, seats that were normally filled with unsuspecting people. The man lifted his hands above his head and pointed them towards a chair that rested not too far in front of him.

The chair seemed to tremble for a moment before gradually ascending up into the air. The man focused on keeping the object aloft, but a bout of coughing caused him to lose concentration, which resulted in the chair falling to the ground. Now, a pile of shattered wood laid in the center of the performance ring.

The man sighed in aggravation and glanced down at his hand; his palm was flaked with tiny drops of blood. Unfazed by the sight, the man simply wiped the blood away on his black pants. "How are things going, Ringmaster?" a voice crooned from the shadows. Slowly, as if peeling away black curtains, a woman stepped out from the darkness. She had long black hair with white streaks that fell just below her waist, and exotic green eyes. "Can't you see that I am busy, Mirage?" the Ringmaster asked in annoyance.

For him, now was not the time to be bothered. Mirage smirked and began to circle around the Ringmaster, much like a lion does to its prey before taking it down. She pouted her voluptuous red lips and said in fake guilt, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you." Ringmaster scoffed and turned to face her. "Please, save your sympathy for somebody else," he snapped.

Mirage smirked, oddly pleased with herself by getting the Ringmaster so worked up, but her smile began to vanish, and her red lips fell into a thin line. She walked up beside the man and reached out, taking his hand in hers. He didn't pull away. On the Ringmaster's hand, Mirage saw the remnants of dried blood on his palm. "So, it's nearing that time again, huh?" she asked darkly.

Ringmaster freed his hand from her hold and walked towards the center of the performance ring. "It appears that way. This body of mine is finally wasting away. I have to admit, though, it's served me rather well the past few decades, but humans just aren't as durable as they used to be. They're becoming soft, and I don't need that," Ringmaster said as he stared down at his hands.

The skin on them had started to wrinkle like old leather; they were no longer the hands of the youth that he had stolen years ago. Mirage gracefully strode up to Ringmaster and placed a hand on his shoulder. She traced her long, well-manicured nails along the fabric of his coat sleeve.

"Shall I call up the Troop and let them know of our impending journey?" she asked, her voice dripping like liquid silk. Ringmaster shrugged her hand away from his shoulder; he didn't like Mirage being too close to him when his powers began to weaken. "Please, call them up, but do make sure that the Scouts find a good location this time. I really don't want to have to go and find a new body within five years like I had to do a while back," he said with ire rising in his voice.

The body that he had chosen to take hadn't been as adequate as he thought, and because of that, he had had to go on the hunt for a new one much sooner than desired. Mirage nodded and bowed slightly. "Of course, Ringmaster," she purred, "I will make sure that they find a worthy location to set up the tents." And with that, Mirage left out of the room, disappearing in the shadows.

Ringmaster narrowed his eyes at the darkness, waiting to see if she would remerge like she did at times, but after several minutes of nothing happening, he took his gaze away. He then made his way towards the broken chair in the middle of the performance ring. Ringmaster stared down at it for a couple of minutes, then raised his hand again.

The shattered pieces of wood shuddered for a moment, then began to fall back into place as an invisible force repaired the broken chair. Blood dripped from the Ringmaster's nose from the effort he had to put forth to use his powers. Something as simple as fixing a broken object shouldn't have even required the same effort needed to lift a finger, and yet, it felt as if he were doing something extremely strenuous.

Once the chair was fixed, Ringmaster lowered his hand and dropped to his knees, just barely catching himself with his hands. He panted heavily and stared down at the small puddle of blood that had fallen from his nose. In the blood, he could see his reflection. His face was no longer young and smooth, but wrinkled and old; he looked at if he were a hundred.

_I'm going to need to find a new body before the week's out, or else I'm going to wither away, _he thought grimly. The idea of turning to dust caused the Ringmaster to shudder. He had been alive for far too long now to mess up and lose everything he had worked for. With joints that felt ancient, the Ringmaster painstakingly made his way back up to his feet. He then slowly left out of the tent he was in and stepped out into the cool night air.

Around him, similar tents were set up. They all were pitch black, much like the night, and had little, black pennants that fluttered in the wind at the top of each one. This was his Circus, his greatest accomplishment in all of his years alive on the Earth, but there was also so much more to it than met the eye.

He wasn't the only one that had been alive for a long time; all of the members of the Cirque were the same way, but they stayed young by different means. While the Ringmaster had to obtain a new body each time his old one wore out, the performers obtained their youth through the audiences that filled the tents at night.

But none of this would be possible with Ringmaster. If he were to vanish, to turn to ancient dust, then the rest of the Circus would crumble with him, for it was his power that held it all together; he made it possible. As he walked through the Circus, he watched as his performers dismantled tents and packed them away. Soon, where the Circus once stood, would be nothing but an empty field.

They would leave no trace of their presence behind, except for maybe a flat patch of grass or two. That was how they worked; show up, perform, and leave. Once they got what they needed, which was the energy from their audience members, they had no reason to linger about. No, none of them were in this Circus to make money; they were all in it for immortality, everlasting beauty and youth.

And what better way to go about it than this? Ringmaster continued to walk through the tents and stopped to watch as performers loaded equipment onto an old-fashion, steam-powered train that was black as coal. Traveling by train was still convenient for them, seeing as hardly anyone ever traveled by train anymore, so they had little fear of being stopped or checked by security, unlike planes, which were nightmares to get luggage through.

Plus, Ringmaster wasn't very partial to flying, so it all evened out in the end. "You really should be conserving your energy, Ringmaster," Mirage purred from the shadows beside him. Ringmaster narrowed his eyes and said sternly, "I'm more than capable of walking." Mirage rolled her eyes and said, "I wouldn't be so sure about that, old man. That body of your's is withering more and more with each passing minute. It won't last much longer if you keep abusing it, and if you cease to exist, then we _all _cease to exist."

The Ringmaster narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He knew Mirage was right, but he wasn't about to admit it. Instead, he turned on his heels and said gruffly, "Get to work. Help with loading the tents and props. I want this train out of here by morning." He then walked off without giving Mirage a chance to reply back. Ringmaster walked until he reached the tent that he lived in.

On the outside, it looked like any of the other Cirque tents; solid black. But on the inside, it had none of the chairs or a performance ring. Instead, it had a small cot, a desk, a several trunks for storing clothes and costumes for shows. He strode across the tent and stopped at a particular chest, one that had previously worn outfits hanging out of it.

He bent over and tossed the clothes back into the chest and closed the lid to the container, and even doing something as simple as that was starting to get difficult. _How much longer do I have before I won't be able to move at all? _he thought to himself as he took a seat on his cot. As he sat, his bones popped and groaned; it never ceased to amaze him how suddenly and quickly a human form deteriorated once it reached its expiration date.

Ringmaster laid back on his cot, knowing that, with the way his body was going downhill, he'd probably have problems getting out of the cot when he woke up later. It didn't matter; he was exhausted.

His ailing body was starting to lose energy, and he had a feeling that he might have less than a week to find a new body. Time was now of the essence for the Ringmaster, and if he didn't find his new body soon, he and his Circus would be no more.

* * *

_Story title based off the song Circus for a Psycho by Skillet. _The introduction to my Halloween special is up now! I know I said it would be up yesterday, but I just couldn't get anything written that I liked (I actually scrapped about three different ideas before calling it a night). But in the next chapter the Brawlers will make their entrance. I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, so please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	2. Strange Arrival

_~O~_

The group of six friends walked along the sidewalk through the city, sticking close to one another as to not get separated by the fluctuating crowds. In the front of the group, like the natural leader he was, was Dan, and right behind him was Shun; the rest of the group followed behind in no particular order.

It was the first time in over a year that they had all been together in one place, so naturally, it called for going out and spending time with one another in order to catch up. At that moment, the group had just left from catching a movie together. "All I'm saying is that I felt like that was a waste of ten dollars," Shun said to Dan. The brunette rolled his eyes and replied back with, "Don't be such a grump. Just admit that you liked the movie."

Shun shook his head. "No, I'm not going to admit to something that isn't true. Not only was the acting terrible, but so were the effects, and if you think that it was a good movie, then your standards are even lower than I thought," the raven-haired teen said bluntly. Out of the corner of his eye, Shun saw that the rest of their friends were smiling, and even giggling, at their discussion over the movie.

He knew for a fact that it brought amusement to the group whenever he and Dan bickered. At least, friendly bickering; the others didn't like it when he and Dan got into hostile arguments. And who could really blame them? However, at that moment, everything was going smoothly. Everyone was enjoying being in each other's company again after being apart for so long.

"I think we should really do this every year, ya know? Get together and have a little reunion," Marucho said cheerfully. It had been Marucho's idea to get everyone together in the first place, so without him, they all would still be strewn out, rather than together and having a good time. "I'm game! What about you guys?" Julie asked in her overly-chipper voice. Nobody objected to the idea.

"Then it's settled; this will be a yearly thing for us," Marucho stated, as if his words had set it in stone. Further up ahead, a large crowd had begun to gather. "Wonder what's going on," Runo said curiously. Marucho shook his head, obviously just as confused as everyone else. "I don't know, but it looks like everyone is gathered around the old train depot," he stated.

Runo raised a brow and shot the short blond a skeptical-look. She asked, "They still use that depot? I thought it was shut down years ago." Marucho pushed his glasses up higher on his nose, an act he did when he was about to state facts, and told her, "It was never officially shut down. Trains do still come through every now and then, but it's rather rare nowadays, seeing as hardly anyone travels by railway anymore."

They all stood there for a moment, gawking at the growing crowd, when Dan's face lit up with a bright smile. He pointed towards the increasing mass of people and said, "What are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!" Before anyone had the chance to open their mouths and respond, the brunette was already making his way towards the train depot.

Shun simply shook his head. _He always leaps before he thinks, _the raven-haired teen mused quietly to himself. The group, not wanting their dimwitted friend to get lost in the crowd, hurried after him. They pushed past people, apologizing whenever bumping into a shoulder, until they found Dan; he had made his way to the center of the crowd somehow.

Shun walked up to his friend and asked, "What do you think you're doing running off like-" Dan held up his hand, cutting the raven-haired teen's words off mid-sentence, and pointed up to the loading platform of the depot. "Check it out," the brunette said, his voice filled with wonder. Shun turned to face the depot and easily saw what all the commotion was about.

Sitting on the tracks was an antique steam-powered train that was black as night. Smoke still rose from the massive machine's smokestack. "I didn't know they still used these kinds of trains," Marucho said, "I thought they all were decommissioned and either donated to museums or scrap yards."

Around them, the crowd seemed to have grown bigger, and the noise level increased as more conversations were thrown into the mix. Shun's eyes scanned the length of the black train until he caught sight of a painted train car towards the end; it was the only thing that had any color on the whole machine.

"Circo Insanus," he read aloud. Dan turned around to look at his friend. "Huh? What are you talking about, buddy?" he asked cluelessly. Shun pointed to the painted car and said, "That one, down there. It has the words Circo Insanus painted on the side." Dan craned his neck to try and see over the crowd and find what Shun was talking about. Marucho furrowed his brows and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Those words are Latin," he said. Julie cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Latin for what?" Marucho glanced at the train car, then back at them. "Well, I know Circo means circus, and Insanus sounds just like what you'd think it would be; insane." Dan crossed his arms over his chest and said, "So, Circus Insane? Kind of a weird name, if you ask me." Julie suddenly clapped her hands together and squealed in excitement.

"Oh, I want to go! I love circuses, and it's been years since I've been to one!" she squeaked. Shun narrowed his eyes at the train and said, "I don't know. Something just doesn't feel…..right." Dan laughed and nudged his friend's shoulder. "How can a circus not feel right? Oh! Let me guess! You have a fear of clowns, don't you! I knew you weren't all hardcore like you make yourself out to be!" the brunette teased.

Shun pushed Dan off of him and said gruffly, "No, I'm not afraid of clowns, idiot. What I meant is it doesn't feel right because there was no announcement about it coming to Bay View. Don't any of you think that's strange? Even if this isn't a popular circus, there would have at least have been some way of telling the public that it would be here."

The others seemed to think this over for a moment, and perhaps his words would have gotten to them, if it weren't for Dan. The brunette rolled his eyes and said obnoxiously, "Come on, just admit to being afraid of clowns. There's no reason to be suspicious of a circus, Shun. So what if they didn't put up flyers or radio ads saying they'd be coming to Bay View?"

Shun narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "I am not afraid of clowns, so you can just drop that right now." Dan was about to say something else, but was stopped by a loud, shrill hiss coming from the train. Shun looked up just as steam began to flood out from beneath the train's wheels, cloaking the massive machine behind a wall of fog.

A silhouetted figure then appeared from within the steam. The figure, who was obviously a woman, lifted her hands above her head and said in a silky smooth voice, "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!" As she spoke, she took large, graceful steps and emerged from the fog.

Shun heard people from the crowd gasp, and with good reason too; the woman was exotically beautiful. She had long, waist-length hair that was black and streaked with silver, and eyes as green as that of a cat's. "I thank you all for welcoming our humble Cirque to your city," she said and bowed before the crowd. As she stood up straight, she continued to speak.

"My name is Mirage, and I am the assistant to our Ringmaster, who, at the moment, is not well enough to make an appearance. But rest assured, he is very honored to be here as well, and will most certainly make an appearance at our show tonight," the woman crooned. Shun was able to take his gaze away from Mirage and glance over at Dan, whose mouth was hanging open as he gawked at the woman.

Runo noticed this as well, and stomped on the brunette's foot, breaking his concentration. "Ow! What was that for?" he hissed. Runo glared and said coldly, "You were drooling everywhere, idiot!" Shun smirked and returned his attention back up to Mirage.

She motioned to the train behind her and said to the crowd, "Our Circus will be set up in the large field beyond the central park, and the gates shall open at the stroke of ten tonight. Please, we do wish that you all come out and see us, and do tell others of our upcoming performance. And just in case some of you are skeptical about this, here is a little taste of what we have to offer."

Mirage stepped off to the side to clear the way for the performers that began to pour of from the train. They were all adorned in blacks and other dark colors; a stark contrast to the light of the day. The first ones out were stick-thin people in black tights that fit perfectly to their bodies.

They then dropped down to the station's platform and bent their bodies into impossible positions. _Contortionists, _Shun thought to himself. The body-benders did their routine and quickly got out of the way, making room for the next set of performers. This time, a man holding onto the inside of a metal hoop came rolling out. He spun for a moment, then proceeded to do tricks with the ring. When he was done, he, too, hurried off to the side.

The next person out was dressed in a black and white pinstripe dress, and her hair done up in messy pigtails. In the performer's hand, she held a leather whip. She held it up in front of the audience, showing that there was nothing special to it. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she lashed the whip out, causing the tip to crack like thunder. She did this several times, making little rhythms with the sound, and then the whip burst into flames in her hands.

The audience gasped in surprise, and the fire then began to die away, and in place of the whip, was a long, slender snake. The performer placed the snake on her neck and did a little curtsy before skipping off. Now, Mirage took her place back in front of the train.

"That was just a small sample of what we have to offer, so trust me, there will be more talents like this, and each one more amazing than the last. So, please, do come and quench your curiosity tonight," she purred seductively as she bowed. The crowd, which had doubled in size, erupted into a wild applause.

To his right, Shun heard Julie say, "We have to go to this! We just have to!" The rest of the group immediately agreed with her. Although, Shun still couldn't shake his feeling of suspicion. He took his gaze from his friends and directed it back up to the train, where he realized that Mirage was looking at him.

He checked behind him, thinking her eyes might have been focused on somebody else, but realized that there wasn't anyone behind him at that moment. Shun looked back up at the mysterious woman, who smiled deviously before slinking back onto the train. The train then let out an ear-splitting whistle as it rolled from the depot to go its designated location.

Shun felt as somebody nudged his shoulder, and he turned to find that it had been Dan. The brunette asked him, "So, are you gonna go with us to see that Circus? It looks really cool." Shun glanced back up at where Mirage had been standing and said, "I guess so." _Although, I have a feeling something bad is going to happen, _he silently added to himself.

* * *

I will probably be unable to update until Sunday morning, seeing as I have after school rehearsal and competition Saturday. In other words, busy busy busy. So, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	3. Pull Back The Curtain

_~O~_

Shun hadn't expected such a large crowd to be gathered in the middle of the park, so when he saw the mass of people standing around, he was genuinely surprised. "Quite the turnout," he muttered to himself. He had been hoping that not many people would show up so that way his friends would see that there was nothing special about this Circus and want to go back home.

Sadly, his plan didn't work that way he had wished it to. "Man, you think they'll be able to fit all of these people in this Circus?" Dan asked to the raven-haired teen. Shun simply shrugged. He hadn't been able to shake this feeling of forewarn that had come over him since seeing the Circus' train docked at the depot; there was just something off about the whole deal. Beside the raven-haired teen, Marucho checked his watch.

"It should almost be time for them to open up," he said to their small group. As if on cue, there was a loud screeching sound from up ahead, and through the darkness. People brought their hands up to their heads in an attempt to shield their ears from the shrill noise. A second later, the screeching stopped and was replaced by a voice over the loudspeaker.

"Welcome one, and welcome all!" a silky voice boomed over all of the noise being made by the crowd. _That's that woman from the train. Mirage, wasn't it? _Shun thought to himself as he listened. "Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long, but some last-minute details had to be attended to," Mirage said through the speakers. "However, your patience is about to be rewarded. The gates have been opened and tickets are being sold now as we speak. So, please, if you all would, remain in line in an orderly fashion. Thank you."

There was a short click as the speaker was turned off, which was followed by the faint sound of static on the other end. Slowly, but surely, the mass of people began to move forward. Shun took a deep breath to try and calm himself; it was just a Circus, right? _If that's the case, then why do I feel so on edge? _he thought to himself.

Shun jumped when he felt somebody grab onto his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it had been Dan who grabbed onto him. "You're looking a little pale, buddy? Still say it isn't clowns that have you so nervous?" his friend said teasingly. Shun narrowed his eyes and knocked Dan's hand off of him.

"I told you once, and I'll tell you again, I am not afraid of clowns," the raven-haired teen snapped. The brunette took a step back, obviously realizing that his teasing had finally gotten on his friend's nerves. "Sorry, man. I was just messing with you," he said apologetically. Shun sighed heavily and told his friend, "It's fine. I…..I just don't handle large crowds very well. That's what's got me so tense."

It was a lie, but viewing back at his previous track record of avoiding people, Shun figured that Dan would buy it. The brunette nodded and said, "Alright, if you say so, buddy." Shun nodded and turned around before Dan had a chance to say anything else to him. When he faced front, Shun realized that they had already made their way up to the front gate's ticket booth. _Wow, that was quick, _he thought to himself.

Now that they were so close to the gate, Shun could see the Circus inside. Large, circular tents loomed overhead, each one adorned with a banner that was flapping in the wind. All of the tents were solid black, almost to the point that they blended in with the night. Surrounded the Circus was the wrought-iron gate and fence.

The black metal that made up the structure was bent and twisted into gothic designs, and when Shun looked close enough, he could see that some of the designs were things like ravens, bats, and some rather demon-like creatures that he couldn't identify. Oddly enough, there was something mesmerizing about the intricate details that resided in the iron fence and gate. "Hey, Shun. Hello, Earth to Mr. Hotshot," a voice said.

Shun snapped out of his thoughts and found it had been Dan that had been talking to him. "Huh?" he asked, confused. The brunette pointed to the ticket booth behind him and asked, "You got a dollar for your ticket?" Shun nodded and reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet.

He then thumbed through the money he had on him and handed a dollar over to Dan. With six dollars, in hand, the brunette handed the money over to the lady in the ticket booth. The woman gladly took the money with a smile and bowed her head. "Have fun," she said cheerfully.

_~O~_

Mirage sat in her tent, relaxing before the long night ahead. In the meantime, she was applying a coat of scarlet red nail polish to her fingers, which stood out in stark contrast compared to everything else in the Circus. She leaned back and assessed her work on her nails.

They glimmered in the dim light of her tent like blood. Mirage blew on the wet fingernail polish to speed along the drying process when the speaker in her tent beeped. A mousey voice then said, "Mirage, if you would please report to the ticket booth." The woman stared at the speaker for a moment, knowing good and well why her presence was being requested, and left from her tent.

Avoiding the mass of people that had accumulated in the Circus, she walked around the backs of tents until she reached the ticket booth. Inside the booth stood a petit young girl with bright blue hair. "Yes, Willow?" Mirage asked. The girl bounced out of the ticket booth and said excitedly, "I think I found the one that Ringmaster is looking for." Willow spun around in a quick circle and clapped her tiny hands together rapidly.

"Oh, really?" Mirage asked calmly. Willow, like many of the members of their Circus, had special powers that she was born with. Her ability was that she could view multiple futures or scenarios for people just by looking at them, and it was this power that got her the job of manning the ticket booth; it was the perfect opportunity due to the fact that she got the chance to look at everyone as they paid their fees.

Willow nodded her head vigorously and said, "Mhm! I checked everyone who came in through the gate and played the scenario in my mind, and only one stood out as a perfect candidate for Ringmaster!" Mirage's lips curved up into a smile. "Do tell me what this person looks like so I can introduce them to Ringmaster," she said smoothly.

_~O~_

There were too many tents for Shun to even want to begin counting. It was almost as if each time he rounded a corner, ten more tents appeared. "It's like a maze," he muttered under his breath. Between the crowd and massive area that was covered by tents, Shun knew it wouldn't be difficult to get lost or separated.

He was about to mention this to the others, but when he looked around for them, he found that they were already gone. Shun stopped walking and stood in between two tents, looking around for his friends; he didn't see them anywhere. The raven-haired teen growled in aggravation. _Is it really that much trouble to tell somebody which way you're going? _he asked himself.

Shun figured that there had to be a place to go that could call your party to you, like the police unit trailers at fairs or other large events. He looked around for one, turning corners around tents and shoving past people, but each path he took looked just like the last one.

Panic started to set in; he already didn't want to be at this Circus, and now he was lost in it. He thought about calling Dan or one of the others and pulled out his phone, but quickly saw that he had no signal. He swore under his breath and put the phone away.

"Guess I just have to find my way back to the front gate and wait on them there," he muttered to himself and started back-tracking in the direction that he came from. "You seem lost," a smooth voice said. Shun turned around and looked for who had spoken to him, but found no one.

"Hello?" he asked and slowly backed up against a tent, "Who's there?" A woman then stepped out of the shadows of the tent across from him, and he instantly recognized her as Mirage. "You're the one from the train depot," Shun said, "Mirage." The woman nodded and smiled, her stunning white teeth standing out against her bright red lips. "Indeed," she crooned as she stepped closer to Shun, "Now, as I said a second ago, you seem lost. Is this the case?"

Shun narrowed his eyes at the mysterious woman, debating whether or not to trust her. In the end, he told her, "As much as I hate to admit it, yes, I'm separated from my friends." Mirage tapped her finger on her chin and said, "Aw, that's a shame. Listen, how about I take you to our Ringmaster's tent and you wait there while I try to locate your friends? That way, if I find them, I'll bring them to you."

Something within Shun was screaming at him, telling him that something was amiss. He backed away from Mirage and told her, "Thanks, but I think I can find them on my own." He started to walk off, but the woman stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Oh, but please, do take me up on my offer to help you. This Circus is so big, and you don't know your way around. It would be so much easier if I go around and search for your friends while you wait. And you know, it's rather an honor to meet our Ringmaster. He doesn't take visitors very often, but for you, I think he'd make an exception."

There was something about the way Mirage said that last part that made the hairs on the back of the raven-haired teen's neck stand on end. "No, I can find them on my own," Shun said nervously and tried to walk away again, but was stopped once more by Mirage.

She now had an expression of aggravation on her face. "I didn't really want to do this, but it seems you have left me no choice," she said coldly, her voice no longer silky and seductive. She then stepped backwards and was slowly being consumed by the same shadows that she had emerged from.

Right before she vanished, she said, "There's a reason I am called Mirage." She then disappeared from Shun's sight. The raven-haired teen, who was trembling without realizing it, turned to run away, but stopped when he saw his five friends walking behind a tent. "Dan! Guys! Wait up!" he shouted and chased after them.

He rounded the tent that they had gone behind and caught a glimpse of them just as they entered through the open flap of another. "Hold up!" he called out to them. Shun then ran and ducked under the flap of the tent that he had seen his friends go through. When he entered the tent, he found that there wasn't a soul in sight. "Dan! Runo! Marucho! Julie! Alice!" he shouted in a desperate attempt to find his friends.

There was no answer. Swearing under his breath, Shun turned around to leave the tent, but found that the opening that he had entered through was gone. Panicked, he rushed up to where the flap had been and started to feel around for it, but quickly realized that there no longer a way out.

Shun then knelt down and tried to feel for the underside of the tent, thinking that he could escape from underneath. That, too, was sealed off from the outside. "Help! Help!" he shouted and frantically continued to feel for a way out. "Nobody can hear you in here," a voice said from behind. Slowly, Shun turned around and found Mirage standing in the center of the tent. His heart stopped for a brief moment.

"How the hell did you get in here?!" he shouted, "Where are my friends?!" Mirage chuckled and said calmly, "I told you there's a reason behind my name. I can make you see what is not really there. Those weren't your friends you saw enter this tent. They were merely an illusion that I created in order to bring you here."

Shun felt as if ice had been poured down his back. "Why? Why did you want to bring me here?" he asked, the panic clear in his voice. Mirage smiled and told him, "For this."

She lifted her hand, and the floor beneath him suddenly vanished, replaced by a black pit. Shun screamed as he felt himself beginning to fall, and a second later, his vision was obscured by the endless abyss to where he could see nothing but darkness.

* * *

Sorry for not uploading yesterday. I had a job fair to attend and also just wasn't feeling in the writing mood that day. I also will be unable to upload tomorrow because I am going to the fair with some friends and probably won't be back home till late. Wednesday I should be able to write, considering I don't have writer's block. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, so please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	4. Doppelganger

_~O~_

There was so much for Alice to take in. There were tents as far as the eye could see, not to mention that there were also performers standing out in the middle of walkways doing tricks and stunts. At one point, they walked by a man that was juggling flaming torches, and Alice wondered how the performer hadn't burned himself, seeing as the entire torch was on fire.

"This is pretty cool," Alice said as she gawked at more tents. Her mind pondered what kind of performances were going on behind each tent flap. "What do you think about this so far, Shun?" she asked and turned around to face the raven-haired teen, but quickly realized that he was no longer behind her as he had been several minutes ago. "Shun?" she asked and began scanning the crowd for any sign of him. When Alice saw no trace of him, she turned and hurried to catch up with the others.

"Guys! Hey, guys! Hold up!" she called out. Her friends stopped walking and turned around to face her. "What is it, Alice?" Runo asked, her face showing hints of concern. Alice, slightly winded from her short run to catch up with her friends, said breathlessly, "I can't find Shun. He was just behind me a moment ago, and now there's no sign of him." As if just realizing this, the four friends glanced behind her in search of the raven-haired teen.

"He must have gotten separated from us when we walked through one of those large crowds," Marucho suggested. For some reason, this possibility wasn't believable. Shun wasn't one that normally got separated because of a large crowd. "Maybe he decided to go into one of the tents," Julie said uncertainly. Alice shook her head and told the group, "I don't know. Let's just retrace our steps back and look for him. We're bound to run into him eventually."

The four friends nodded their heads in agreement to Alice's plan and began to retrace their path through the Circus. Although, it didn't take long for confusion to start setting in, since all of the tents looked almost identical. "I think we already went this way," Dan said as he scratched the back of his head. Runo turned around and told him, "No, we didn't! I told you, we took two rights and three lefts! This is our third left!"

The two then began to bicker, and honestly, Alice was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. Marucho shook his head and said, "Alright, alright! Why don't we just try calling Shun's cell phone and see if we can find him that way?" The thought hadn't crossed Alice's mind at the time, but when she thought back to it, calling Shun might have saved them a lot of time and trouble.

"Good idea. Dan, get your phone out and call Shun's number," Alice instructed. Dan nodded and did just as she had asked. He punched in the number to Shun's phone and held the device up to his ear. A minute went by and Dan removed the phone from his ear and stared down at the brightly lit screen in confusion. "Huh. That's weird," he muttered to himself.

Marucho, eyebrow cocked, asked, "What is it?" Dan motioned down to his phone and said, "It said that the number is unavailable, and last time I checked, Shun didn't get his number changed." Alice felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end; something wasn't right.

"Now, let's not get too worked up. Maybe he's just got his phone turned off, or maybe the battery's dead," Marucho told them in a reassuring tone, "So, in the meantime, let's see if we can find someplace where we can call his name out over an intercom."

The group nodded their heads and went out in search of a intercom that they could commandeer in order to help find their missing friend. Alice followed behind her friends and kept checking over her shoulder, for she was unable to shake this feeling that this Circus wasn't all that it appeared to be.

_~O~_

_ "Are you sure this is the one?" _a rough, gravely voice asked. The words that were spoken echoed in Shun's head as if they had been said in a cave. Another voice spoke up, one that was smooth and silky, _"Yes, I am sure. He's the one that Willow pointed out to me, and you know that her scenarios are never wrong." _

Shun's body felt heavy, as if he had been beaten and weighed down with bricks. He struggled to open his eyes, but could only do so halfway, which caused everything he saw to be blurred and unclear. However, even through this, he was able to make out the shapes of two people looming over him.

He groaned as his head was attacked by a wave of pain. _What happened? Where am I? _he silently asked himself. He tried to sit up, but his heavy muscles wouldn't allow for it; he would have to settle for laying on the ground. _"Ah, looks like our guest is starting to wake up," _the female's voice crooned. It took Shun a moment to recognize the voice, but when he finally did, an icy chill took hold of his body; the voice belonged to Mirage.

_"It would appear so," _the rougher voice said calmly. Shun forced his eyes open a bit more, just enough to where they could focus in on the faces of the people that loomed over him, and when he did, he wished he hadn't. Standing over him, just as he feared, was Mirage. But the woman wasn't alone. An old, almost decrepit-looking man stood by her side.

His face was so sunken in that, for a moment, Shun thought he was staring at a skull. So, when he realized that it was actually the man's face, he was truly surprised. Shun's heart began to speed up as panic set in, and he tried his best to sit up and get away from the two people, but his weakened body wouldn't allow it, causing him to remain a prisoner of the floor.

Frantically, he began to look around to see where he was at, but that was just the thing; there was no way of telling where he was. It appeared almost as if it were an empty Circus tent, with its performance ring and folding chairs that were organized into a neat circle. However, the only light that filled the space came from one spotlight that hung in midair above head, a light, that Shun noticed, wasn't hooked or hung on anything; it simply floated.

He turned his attention back onto the two people that shared the mysterious space with him and asked, "What the hell is going on? Where am I?" Mirage smiled, her vibrant red lips lining her flawless teeth. "You're neither here, nor there," she said cryptically. Shun raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, "What does that even mean?"

She chuckled and extended her arms out to motion to her surroundings. "Whether you realize it or not, you are still in the Circus, or, rather, within the Circus. You see, this is a place entirely away from the world, a tear in the fabric of time and space. It was created by our Ringmaster many years ago for different purposes, and all of us Carnies have different names for it, but I prefer to call it the Nether," Mirage said casually with a perfect smile.

Shun glanced around at the tent-like space that he was in and tried to comprehend the fact that he was no longer even on Earth; he was in a different dimension altogether. "But…..But how?" he whispered under his breath. Mirage knelt down in front of him, her face mere inches away from his.

She was so close that the perfume she wore nearly stole his breath and choked him. "Magic, my dear. It was made with magic," she purred into his ear, which caused Shun to shudder. Mirage chuckled and back away until she stood beside the ancient-looking man. She turned to the man and said, "I do believe you'll approve of this one. From what little I've been able to gather about him, he has a lot of energy."

Shun tensed at Mirage's words. What did she mean by the old man 'approving' of him? Thoughts and worse-case scenarios began to flash through Shun's mind, which further increased his panic. His heart now pounded harder, and for a moment, he thought it might explode out of his chest. And if it didn't do that, then he was certain that Mirage and the mysterious man could hear it.

"There's pros and cons when it comes to young people," the old man said to Mirage in his gruff voice, "The good thing about them is that normally their forms last longer. However, it takes twice as long to complete the transfer. That's really the only downside." Shun stared at the two people and began to shake his head. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you both insane?" he asked nervously.

The old man hobbled towards the raven-haired teen and said, "Trust me, I'm not insane. I am merely a man who wants to continue on living, and you are what will help me accomplish this goal for more decades to come." Shun chuckled nervously and said, "Y-yeah, you're crazy."

Adrenaline was coursing through Shun's veins now, and that was just the boost he needed to make a desperate run for it. He forced his fatigued body up and scrambled to his feet; Shun had no idea as to where he was going to go, only that he needed to get away.

But before he could even get five feet away from the old man, he felt a hand reach out and grab hold of his wrist. He cried out in surprise and tried to free himself from his assailants grasp, but found himself paralyzed with fear as dark mist began to rise from the ground.

The mist encased both him and the old man. Shun looked around frantically, but couldn't see anything through the darkness; not even the mysterious man that had been holding onto his wrist. The raven-haired teen felt around through the mist, but no matter how hard he tried to walk out of it, he was unable to. It was as if the mist never ended. Then, it felt like Shun had been stabbed in the chest.

He gasped in surprise as the wind was knocked out of his lungs, then dropped to the ground in a heap. Right after this happened, the dark mist slowly began to fade away and the room returned to how it had been. Shun, who was still laying on the ground, held on tightly to his sides and waiting for the room to cease its spinning. "What…..What did…..What did you do?" he wheezed pathetically.

Shun half-expected to feel the warmth of blood seeping from his chest, but was surprised to find that he had no physical injuries anywhere on his body; it had honestly felt as if he had been impaled. "What did I do?" a strong, confident voice asked, one that Shun didn't recognize, "Why don't you take a look for yourself?" Shun glanced up and focused on the person that now stood over him.

When his vision cleared up, he gasped; Shun was looking at himself. "W-What?" he asked breathlessly. The doppelganger simply smiled and did a 360 turn. "As I said before, you are the one who was selected to provide me life for the years to come. That is, at least until the form that I'm taking from you begin to rot away. I promise this to you, though, your sacrifice will not go to waste."

With these words, Shun instantly realized that, the person that now looked like him, had been the decrepit old man not five minutes ago. The doppelganger stared down at his hands and flexed his fingers. "This isn't permanent right now; I'm just taking this form out for a test drive to see how it holds up against my magic. However, for time's sake, because I know how long the process of stealing young life takes, I'm going to proceed with the transfer anyway."

The look-a-like raised his right hand and directed it towards Shun. Suddenly, a cage of dark mist formed around the raven-haired teen, trapping him. Shun looked around, completely panic-stricken and helpless. The doppelganger then said, "I think the transfer of life energy should be complete before the night is over, so I have until dawn to decide whether or not I want to keep this form. If I don't, then I'll reject it before the transfer is complete, and when that happens, then you have a slight chance of surviving, depending on how much life force you have left."

He then turned and faced Mirage. "However, I think you might be right about me liking this form, Mirage. Not only does it feel durable, but its appearance should blend in perfectly with the Circus. It's a win-win," the fake said with a smile. Mirage bowed gracefully to the doppelganger and said, "I told you, Ringmaster, Willow is never wrong with her scenarios and predictions."

The body thief, known as Ringmaster, turned back around and faced Shun; it was just like looking in a mirror, except the only difference was the eyes. Where Shun's eyes were amber in color, Ringmaster's eyes were dark red, like drying blood.

"Now, as for you, my friend, I suggest you enjoy the time you have left, for you see, this cage I created around you is slowly sapping away your life energy and giving it to me. In other words, you'll start feeling the effects of it in no time, and before the night is over, given that I chose to keep this form, you'll be completely drained of your life. So, make your minutes count while you're trapped in there," Ringmaster said with a malicious smile.

He then turned sharply on his heels and said to Mirage, "Come now, my dear, we have an audience to entertain." The two were then consumed by dark mist and vanished before Shun's very eyes. The raven-haired teen, now that he was alone, tried to push himself up into a sitting position with his hands.

But when he tried, his arms trembled beneath his weight, and he fell over onto his side. His muscles, too weak to support him, were already feeling the effects of the life-draining cage that imprisoned him. Shun laid there on his side, breathing heavily and feeling as tiny portions of his life slowly started to slip away from him. His time was literally limited, and his life was fleeting.

* * *

Another chapter down. Hopefully I'll be able to upload again tomorrow; I don't know why I wouldn't be able to unless something comes up last minute. Anywho, please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	5. Mimicry

_~O~_

Alice sat down on an iron bench and sighed heavily; they had searched all over the Circus and didn't find any place that they could use to call out Shun's name over the crowd. _Unbelievable, _she thought to herself. She was so sure they would find one. "What do we do now?" Julie asked. Alice shook her head. What else could they do other than wander around the Circus and hope to run into their missing friend?

Dan stuffed his hands into his pockets and said, "I guess just go and enjoy the Circus. I mean, if we run into him, then we run into him. No need to get too worked up. Shun can take care of himself, after all. It's not like he's helpless." The group nodded, but Alice had to force herself to agree with Dan's statement. Even though she knew that the brunette was right about Shun being capable of taking care of himself, it still didn't help ease the worry that had slowly been mounting inside of her.

This feeling of forewarn had implanted itself inside Alice's mind the moment that she realized that the raven-haired teen was gone. There had just been something off about the whole matter, and that's what had raised the red flag for her. "Alice? You coming with us or not?" Dan asked. She looked up and saw that her friends had gathered and were ready to get a move on.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," she said uncertainly and pushed herself from the iron bench she had been sitting on. As she walked, Alice tried to rid her mind of the negative thoughts that had taken root within her brain. Perhaps the others were right; maybe there really wasn't anything to worry about. But even as she tried to tell herself this, Alice didn't believe it. She still felt that something was wrong.

_Better to be safe about the matter than sorry, _she thought to herself. Alice, who had been staring down at the ground and lost in her thoughts, bumped into somebody. Surprised, she staggered back and tried to register what had just happened. When she finally figured out, she quickly turned to face the person and said, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going!"

The person, who she gathered was a performer, was dressed head to toe in black. A long, flowing cape went from his shoulders and stopped short of his ankles. Silver chains hung loosely from pockets on his pants and vest. On his head was something that resembled a top-hat; although, Alice knew it wasn't. Sticking out from the hat, though, was a shiny, black feather.

The one thing that struck Alice was the fact that the performer had his face hidden. A black mask that was accented by silver, Victorian-style lines hid his true identity. The only thing not hidden by the mask was his eyes, which despite being a dark red, struck Alice as strangely familiar. She couldn't place why, though.

The mysterious, black-clad performer curtsied to Alice and said smoothly, "My apologies, my dear, I didn't see you either. I was in a bit of a rush to make it to my stage. Please, do excuse me." He then straightened up and went on about his way. Alice stood there, paralyzed by a sense of familiarity that she couldn't shake. She could have sworn that she had seen the man's eyes somewhere before.

"Hey, Alice! What's the hold up?" Dan called from a couple tents down. Alice shook herself back into focus and hurried to catch up with her friends. "Sorry, guys. I accidentally bumped into somebody back there," she explained. She decided to keep the thing about the mystery man's eyes a secret, thinking that there was no point in bringing up something so mundane to her friends.

Marucho narrowed his eyes and told her, "Might want to make sure that guy didn't pickpocket you or something." The thought hadn't crossed Alice's mind, and she quickly began to make sure none of her belongings had been swiped. When she was sure that nothing was missing, she told Marucho, "I think I'm good. Let's just keep moving."

The friends nodded and continued to meander through tents, many of which they stopped in front of to debate on whether or not to go inside. They finally came to one that struck all their fancy. Above the tent flap was a small, wooden sign, and written on this sign in crude scrawl was the word _'Noise.' _"Wanna go in?" Marucho asked the group. Dan, being outgoing as ever, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm game if you guys are."

That was all that needed to be said. Alice followed her friends into the tent, which couldn't have been any wider than twenty feet in diameter. A small ring of chairs was set up around the edge of the tent walls, creating a small stage in the center. In the middle of this 'stage' was a young girl who appeared no older than twelve. She had long, dark brown hair that was tied up into pigtails.

However, despite the hair being tied back, her face was hidden due to the fact that her head was tilted down, thus obscuring her face from view. The five friends sat down on the cold, metal folding chairs that were set up and waited for the girl to do something. When nothing happened for a couple of minutes, Dan leaned over and whispered, "Why isn't she doing anything?" The moment the last words left his mouth, the girl's head popped up and she turned to face the group.

"Why isn't she doing anything?" the girl said, mimicking Dan's voice perfectly. Now that the girl's face was exposed, Alice could see tiny scars that lined the mimicker's features. "Whoa, how'd you do that?" Dan asked, his eyes twinkling with wonder. The girl cocked her head to the side and, once again in Dan's voice, said, "Whoa, how'd you do that?" The brunette stared at the girl, his eyes displaying the bewilderment he was feeling.

Marucho, being the analytical one, pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and said, "There must be a recorder in here somewhere." The girl then turned to look at the short-blonde. "There must be a recorder in here somewhere," the girl said, this time in Marucho's voice. Silence hung in the air of the tent after that, each one of the friends being too disturbed to say anything else.

All it took for them to leave was for Marucho to point to the flap of the tent. Without hesitation, the five hurried out. Before she left out, Alice glanced back behind at the little girl with pigtails. The girl had lowered her head back down, her face hidden by shadows again. A chill shot down Alice's back, and she quickly exited the tent. The others were standing nearby, their eyes wide and looking just as disturbed as Alice felt.

"Okay, that was too creepy. I don't care if there was a recorder in there or not," Dan said as he shook his head furiously. Runo nodded and said, "I agree with Dan. That was just too weird. I mean, did anyone else get chills by that girl's blank expression? Or was it just me?" Alice was pretty sure that they had all noticed it, but she didn't say anything on the matter.

Suddenly, the sound of static filled the air, which was quickly replaced by the same silky voice that had spoken into when the gates to the Circus first opened; the voice of the woman known as Mirage. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This is Mirage again, and I just have a quick announcement to make. Our Ringmaster feels well enough to make an appearance tonight and will be arriving in the center tent soon to begin tonight's main show. So, please, do hurry that way now if you want good seats."

The intercom then went silent again as Mirage's announcement was completed. The five friends exchanged looks at one another. "Want to head that way?" Marucho asked. Dan interlocked his hands behind his head and said, "Sure. I kinda want to see what the main show's got in store. And hey, who knows, we might find Shun there too." Alice felt her hope pick up a bit.

There was a good chance that Shun would be there, considering that his mind was on the same track as there's. "You might be right," she said to the brunette. Alice wished she could be more sure, though. Even though there was a good possibility that Shun would be at the main show, that didn't mean he would be for sure.

_It's worth a shot, though, _Alice thought to herself in an attempt to remain positive. The group then began to follow the flow of the crowd towards the center tent, not only to take in the main show, but also to see if their missing friend was there as well.

_~O~_

"Help! Somebody! Please! Help me!" Shun shouted at the top of his lungs. He knew nobody would hear him, though. Despite this key fact, he continued to yell until his voice grew too hoarse to keep it up, and even then, he continued to cry out. Shun laid on his side, too weak to even sit upright, and shouted again.

"Help!" His voice was strained now and barely audible. He shut his eyes tightly and refused to let his emotions show through the tears that threatened him; he had never felt so weak and helpless in his life. All of Shun's life he had put on this cold, strong demeanor in front of his family and friends.

Now, in the face of an impending death, that demeanor had shattered like glass, and he was now doing what any other person in his situation would do; panic and breakdown. He didn't want to die, not like this, anyway. Shun starred through the bars of his cage, which flowed like the dark mist it was made of. A thought came into his mind and he began to weakly make his way towards the bars.

Perhaps, seeing as the bars appeared to be made out of a mist-like substance, he could pass through them; it made about as much sense as anything else in this Circus. With a trembling hand, Shun reached out to grab onto the cage bars. When he did, it felt like jolts of electricity shot through his arm and into his body. Crying out, he released the bar and fell back onto his side.

Tears of pain slightly blurring his vision, Shun looked down at his hand and saw the skin on his palm had been burned from where he grabbed onto the magical cage. Anger and rage then took over, causing him to cry out like an animal. He shouted, "Let me out! Please! Let me out of this damn thing! Now!"

The anger that had come over Shun left as quickly as it had arrived. He now continued to lay on the floor of his prison and cry, not caring that he had been fighting against his emotions not five minutes ago. He was going to die, simple as that. If anything, Shun felt he had every right to cry over that, damn what anyone else thought. "That's right, let it all out," a voice said calmly.

Shun tensed and looked through the bars of the cage, but saw nobody there. He was about to attribute hearing the voice to having his life slowly sapped away when he heard it again. "What's the matter? You look a bit confused." Shun turned to his left and gasped. Sitting in the cage beside him was a man, if he could even be called that, seeing as the man's body was a translucent white.

"W-What?" Shun asked, his fear mounting. The spectral being tilted his head to the side. "What?" he asked then looked down at himself, "Oh, this. Yeah, I'm a ghost, as you can see. Or, well, kind of not see." Shun realized he was trembling. Ghosts were real? Then again, so was magic. So, why not? "Who….Who were you?" the raven-haired teen asked weakly.

His head was starting to pound from the weakness that gripped his body. The ghost, who, if this was possible, didn't seem much older than Shun, stood up and said, "I was the last victim of Ringmaster, but for some reason, he didn't take all of my life force, so my soul kind of got stuck here in the Nether. Trust me, being a tortured soul doomed to walk the Earth isn't all it's cracked up to be when you're trapped in this place. Gets kind of lonely here sometimes, ya know?"

Shun just simply gawked at the specter. The ghost shook his head and said, "Well, that's all beside the point. Anyway, my name is, or was, Trey." Trey held his hand out for Shun to shake, then took it back, as if remembering what he was.

"Sorry, been a while since I've had company. Other than Ringmaster, that is. Then again, he doesn't exactly know I'm still lingering about here in the Nether. So, this just stays between you and I, alright?" Shun, unsure of exactly what to say, simply nodded his head in response. He then thought to himself, _What else is going to go wrong tonight?_

* * *

Oh. My. God. Yesterday had to be the worst day of my life. Not only was it my last marching contest, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, and then some. I mean, I wanted to cry so badly, and I'm not even going to go into all of the details. So, instead, please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	6. Showtime

_~O~_

The center tent was a massive complex, one that was big enough to almost hold all of the people that had come into the Circus that night. Alice and the others had been fortunate enough to get seats close to the performance ring, giving them a perfect view of the upcoming show. But rather than wait in anticipation, Alice was too busy scanning the crowd of people behind her.

She was hoping to get a glimpse of Shun so their group could be reunited again. However, Alice didn't see a single sign of the raven-haired teen. The hope she had been feeling was weighed down with a mixture of worry and disappointment. _Where is he? _she thought to herself. Alice turned back around and faced forward in her seat. Beside her, Runo asked, "See him anywhere?"

Alice simply shook her head. Runo frowned and placed a supportive hand on Alice's shoulders. "We'll run into him eventually, so don't worry yourself over this too much. Just sit and enjoy the show," the bluenette said with a reassuring smile. Alice smiled back, but on the inside, she was still worrying. The lights in the tent suddenly grew dim and concentrated in the middle of the performance ring.

A hush fell over the crowd as the woman from the train depot, suddenly appeared in the spotlight. The silver streaks in her black hair caught the light just right and shimmered like the light of the moon. All around in the audience, Alice could hear people taking in gasps of air at the sight of Mirage. Alice didn't blame them for doing so; Mirage was an exotic kind of beautiful, a kind that didn't even seem human. As Mirage moved around the performance ring, the spotlight followed her.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to see that we have a full house for tonight's show," she said silkily as her green eyes scanned over the crowd. "As many of you know from the train depot, and also over the loudspeaker, my name is Mirage. I am the assistant to our illustrious Ringmaster, and as I have stated a few times the past couple of days, our Ringmaster has been rather unwell. But rest assured, he is better tonight and will be present for the show."

The audience clapped in response. Mirage waited for the applause to die down before speaking again. "I really do hope you all have enjoyed the other attractions that our Circus has, and if you haven't, I recommend doing so after tonight's show," she said with a seductive smile.

Alice thought back to the last tent they went in, the one with the girl that could mimic voices. A shiver shot down her spine at the memory of the strange girl's blank expression. It was a given that they weren't going back in that tent for the rest of the night.

Alice focused back on Mirage, ridding her mind of the disturbing memories of Noise's tent. "Well, it is time for our performance to begin. I ask that you all enjoy the show that our performers have put together for you all. Thank you," Mirage said with a bow. The spotlight turned off, and when the lights returned, Mirage was gone.

The lights then turned upward to illuminate two people being lowered down from the ceiling of the tent; Alice figured that the wire that was holding them had to be really thin, for she couldn't see it from where she sat. In fact, it almost looked at if there was nothing suspending them in the air at all. One of the performers, a woman, was dressed in a flowing white dress with wings as white as snow coming from the shoulder blades on her back.

Her partner, a man, was quite the opposite. He was dressed in black, tattered clothes, and black wings protruded from his back. They were doing a play on light and dark, good and evil. The two performers began their routine, doing elaborate flips and acrobatics in the air.

To Alice, the movements looked so natural, as if the performers were really the beings that they were depicted as. She knew better than that, though. The female, the one dressed as an angel, was suddenly struck down by the devilish creature. She spiraled down towards the ground, leaving white feathers behind in the air as well. Then, right before making contact with the stage below, she halted her descent and took skyward again. She flew above her dark half and raised her hands above her head.

The lights in the tent then flashed brightly, blinding the audience momentarily. When Alice regained her vision, she found the angel standing over the devil, blood staining the once snow-white dress. The lights then went dark, signaling the end of the first performance and for the audience to clap. Over the applauses, Alice heard Julie say, "I didn't see any wires or anything. Did you guys?"

Marucho replied logically with, "They probably have some high-tech equipment, some kind of wire that's really thin and almost invisible to the human eye." The lights then flickered back on, and Mirage was standing back in the center of the stage. "I hope that opening act was up to all of your standards," she said to the audience, who replied with a louder applause.

Mirage smiled and said, "That's not even the tip of the iceberg. There are still many more performances to be seen, so please remain seated." The lights went out once more. That was when Alice could feel herself growing a bit tired, but she figured it was nothing but effects from being awake at such a late hour. The lights flashed back on, revealing ten people standing on the stage.

They were all dressed in skintight, black outfits; some of them had large, silver rings with them. The one standing in the middle of them all, threw something on the ground, which exploded into a cloud of smoke, hiding the performer. When the smoke finally cleared, a stunning white tiger had taken their place. The big cat reared its head back and roared loudly.

It then stood up and began to stalk the nine remaining performers, who stood completely still, despite the fact that a creature that was capable of killing them was so close. The tiger then turned its gaze to one of the people that held a silver ring. It then charged at the performer, teeth bared and ready to rip into flesh, but the performer simply lifted the ring into the air.

The tiger leaped through the ring, but vanished as it did so; it never appeared on the other side. Alice found herself leaning forward in her chair. How could something as big as that tiger vanish by passing through a hoop? On the other side of the stage, the other ring-wielding performer held his ring out, and just as he did so, the tiger suddenly jumped out of that ring. Alice couldn't figure it out.

It was as if the two separate rings were somehow connected and created a black hole effect. She knew better, though, and that it was just some kind of Circus trick; no reason to start thinking it was somehow real. The performers teleported the white tiger to different sides of the stage with the rings for several minutes, then turned around and did the same thing to themselves, vanishing one-by-one until all that was left were the rings and the tiger.

The tiger sat down in the middle of the stage, roared, and was consumed by smoke. And just like earlier, when the smoke cleared, the tiger was replaced by the last performer, the one who had originally turned into the big cat. The lights then shut off, marking the end of another performance.

This time, the applause grew louder than it had been after the angel and demon display, for this performance was more impressive than the last.

And for the first time that night, Alice found herself completely mesmerized by the Circus. Whereas her thoughts had previously been occupied in finding their missing friend, they were now focused entirely on the next performance. The show was all the seemed to matter now.

_~O~_

Shun shook his head, still refusing to believe that he was really speaking with a ghost. Then again, how could he really argue with anything at this point? Shun's spectral guest had something in common with him, though; they were both victims of Ringmaster.

However, for some reason, the ghost, who had once been called Trey, didn't have all of his life drained, thus resulting in him being trapped in the Nether. Shun didn't fully understand how all that worked, and he wasn't even entirely sure if Trey understood it either.

The ghost, who had been babbling on nonstop for the longest time about how it got lonely in the Nether, suddenly stopped talking. "What? Run out of things to say?" Shun asked, his voice filled with irritation, as well as fatigue. The more minutes that went by, the more life was drained from the raven-haired teen. Trey shook his head and said, "It's happening again." Shun raised a brow in confusion and asked hoarsely, "What are you talking about?"

Trey hovered over to the edge of the cage and stared through the bars. "The main show's started," the ghost said sadly, "I know because I can feel the Circus draining life from the people inside." Shun forced his weakened body into a sitting position. "Seriously, what are you talking about?" the raven-haired teen asked.

Why couldn't he have gotten stuck with a normal ghost, or perhaps even no ghost at all? Trey shook his head, as if snapping free from a trance. "Oh? You don't know about this Circus?" the specter asked. Shun shook his head. "How am I supposed to know anything about it?" he said coldly. Trey tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Good point," the ghost said, "Well, here's the thing, then. This Circus wasn't ever really made for people to have a good time. It was made as a conduit."

Shun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He honestly wasn't following what the ghost was saying. "Okay, go on." Trey nodded and said, "Well, the best way I can describe this Circus is like…..Is like an ant colony, where the Ringmaster is the queen. Do you know what happens to an ant colony if the queen dies?" Shun nodded and said, "The colony dies." The ghost nodded his head and began to pace around the cage.

"Exactly. The colony dies. So, in other words, the Ringmaster, who in order to keep on living has to find a new form whenever his old one wears out, is the queen. If he dies, then the rest of the Circus does as well. But just like worker ants depend on the queen, the Carnies depend on Ringmaster. He created the Circus not only as a way to ensure that he constantly has a new form, but to also make sure that his subjects continue to live on as well. The way he did that was through his design of the Circus. When people enter the center tent where the main show is held, that's when Ringmaster's creation comes into play. That tents takes some of the life force from the audience and distributes it to the Carnies to replenish their life and youth."

Shun stared in absolute horror. The Circus was strictly designed to take life. Something then occurred to the raven-haired teen. "Wait, if you're saying the main show is happening now, that means that people are having their life taken from them as we speak?" he asked, his voice filled with growing panic.

Trey nodded and told him, "Yes, since I'm necessarily trapped within the confines of the Circus, I can tell when the main show begins and when the audience is losing their life force." Shun began to shake his head furiously. "No, there's got to be a way to stop it! My friends are out there!" he shouted at the specter.

The ghost frowned and said, "I can't do anything to stop it. I'm just as trapped and helpless as you are." Shun was about to say something else, but his words caught in his throat as his body was racked with pain. He doubled over and cried out, holding on tightly to the sides of his head.

Over to the side, the raven-haired teen just barely heard Trey say, "Well, looks like Ringmaster decided to take in a bit more of your energy before making his appearance for the show."

Shun, in order to combat the pain, bit down on his lower lip until he drew blood. His vision then began to blur as his body shut down from the magnitude of the agony it was undergoing, and then, all he saw was darkness.

* * *

I'm so happy I don't have school today (at least I was kind of able to salvage my weekend). Too bad I have some homework to do today, though. -.- Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter blah blah read and leave a review (you guys know the drill by now). ~Copperpelt~


	7. Behind The Mask

_~O~_

Each performance had been more spectacular than the last, which had caused many of the people in the audience to wonder how the show could get any better. Alice was among these people. She sat in her chair beside her friends, watching intensely at the current performance, which was a contortionist up on the high-wire.

Alice sat on the edge of her seat in anticipation to see what amazing positions the performer would bend into next. Her attention towards the Circus acts had spiked after the tiger show earlier for reasons she wasn't entirely sure about. She did know, however, that her mind had been occupied by something other than the Circus.

What this was though, she couldn't remember. Normally something like that would bother her, but her mind was just so focused on the performer overhead. Alice had no desire to remember, though. In all honesty, she was perfectly content as she was.

But deep down within her subconscious, she knew that something wasn't right, that she shouldn't have been so attentive to a simple Circus act. But no matter how loud this little voice seemed to shout this warning, it couldn't reach Alice and snap her from her trance. Up above, the contortionist twisted her body in a way that was humanly impossible, and proceeded to stand on one hand on the high-wire.

This earned her yet another round of applause from the crowd. The contortionist did a little curtsy on her hand and then untwisted her body. When she returned to her real shape, she bowed from up on the wire and scampered off, her performance now over. And just like the intermission between each act, the lights went out.

They then quickly clicked back on and pointed down to Mirage. The beautiful, exotic woman stood in the middle of the circular stage, the make-up around her bright green eyes shimmering like water. She smiled, flashing her perfectly white teeth as she did so; her teeth looked a million times whiter when held against her bright red lipstick.

"You've seen numerous acts tonight, each more amazing than the last," Mirage said and motioned to the stage she stood on, "but there is one last performance until we are able to wrap this show up. It is now my pleasure to hand the stage over to our Ringmaster. Please, give him a round of applause."

The lights went out again and people clapped loudly in the darkness as they awaited for the Ringmaster to appear. Slowly, the lights came back on, but not to their full extent. Now, instead of having the stage fully lit, it was illuminated by dim lights that casted an eerie glow across the stage.

Alice quickly realized that that was all she could see; the stage. On the other side of the Circus tent, where more audience had been, was now obscured from sight by the shadows created by the spotlights. Alice's attention was taken from the darkness to the center of the stage as the Ringmaster made his appearance. The center of the ring suddenly burst to life with an ominous, purple flame.

The ends of the fire jumped around wildly, lashing out at the air above and even at the audience. But despite the danger that the fire posed, people didn't run. Instead, they remained in their seats and kept their eyes glued to the purple blaze, mesmerized. Alice was no different. She, too, was unable to take her gaze from the fire.

That is, until the flames sputtered out. They vanished, as if blown away by a wind, and standing in the middle of where the fire had been, was the Ringmaster. He remained bent over, almost like he was frozen in mid-bow. Then, he ever so slowly lifted his head and gaze. When he did, his dark red eyes caught Alice's attention, and when she looked, it was almost like a fog being lifted.

She shook her head and blinked her eyes a couple of times. Those eyes, she had seen those eyes. And now that she had seen them again, it was like she could think straight. Although, she couldn't really explain how. Her mind immediately went back to the concern of Shun, and she began to search the faces around her in the crowd. It was too dark to make out the features of those standing near the back, so she wasn't sure if Shun was back there or not.

There was something Alice noticed about the faces of those that she could see; they all had blank expressions. Or, partially blank. There eyes were glazed over, and their faces stuck in an expression of awe or amazement. Confused, she turned to her left to look at her friends. They, too, had the same facial expression going on. Alice lifted her hand in front of Runo's face and waved.

The bluenette never once blinked or took her eyes off of the stage. "What's going on?" Alice whispered to herself. Why was she the only one not off in some far-away trance? Not saying that she wanted to be, but it did make her a bit confused. It then occurred to her that when she saw Ringmaster's eyes it had been like she could think straight again.

_Does that have something to do with this? _she wondered to herself. "Welcome! Welcome!" the Ringmaster said with his hands raised above his head. Alice turned her attention back to the man in the center of the stage. Now that she took a good look at him, she realized that he was the man that she ran into back outside, the one that she had apologized to.

That was when she first saw his eyes, his striking, familiar red eyes. The Ringmaster wore the same outfit that he had been in during their first encounter; the black hat with the ebony feather stuck in it and the chains that hung from every pocket and belt loop. The black and silver-accented mask was still on his face, hiding his true identity.

"I'd first like to thank you all for your patience and support," the Ringmaster said with a sly grin, "As my lovely assistant, Mirage, has said multiple times tonight, I have been rather unwell the past week. But please, rest assured, I am fully recovered now, perhaps even better than ever."

The audience clapped their hands and cheered, but even with these motions and reactions, their faces stayed the same. There was also something about the way the Ringmaster said the last part of his statement that gave Alice a chill down her spine. The Ringmaster started walking around the stage, the long, floor-length coat he wore waving behind him like a flag.

Alice watched him closely and realized than a lot more than his eyes were familiar to her. There was something about the way he walked, the confidence in his step and the way he carried himself that raised another flag. Why was it that Alice found this complete stranger so familiar? She had never met him before, to her knowledge. Yet, little things like the eyes and movements of the Ringmaster felt so familiar.

_Why? _she thought in frustration. It was bothering her more than it probably should have. The Ringmaster stopped his pacing and said, "Now, I would like to reward all of your patience with the grand finale of tonight's show." He turned his head to the side and said to the shadows, "Mirage, my dear, if you would be so kind?" He held out his hand and beckoned to the darkness, and out of it came the mysterious woman, just as if she were stepping out from behind a black curtain.

In her hand, Mirage held two silver blades, each about an arm's length long. She held them up to show them to the audience, then handed one to the Ringmaster. He took it from her and swung it around. Alice could hear the sound of the metal cutting the air. "You know, I've always found something….Romantic about blades," the Ringmaster said as he looked down thoughtfully at the sword, "There's just something beautiful and dangerous about them. They're kind of like a woman. You can marvel them, but if you don't treat them with respect then…."

He turned around and plunged the sword into Mirage's abdomen. "You get cut," the Ringmaster completed. Blood seeped from the wound in Mirage's stomach, as well as from her mouth. His assistant coughed, little droplets of red flying as she did so. Alice covered her gaping mouth in shock.

There was no trick of eye of illusion to this; the sword was really plunged into Mirage's abdomen. Ringmaster then pulled the sword out. The silver blade was stained red with fresh blood. Mirage doubled over, but didn't fall to the ground. Instead, she remained like that for a moment, then stood up straight, a smile plastered to her face.

When she removed her hands from her stomach, she revealed that there was no wound, no blood. The mindless audience clapped their hands and filled the tent with applause. Alice blinked her eyes, thinking that her eyes were deceiving her. They weren't. _I know what I saw. That sword was really in her, _Alice thought to herself.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but it had looked so real; Alice could even have sworn that she smelled the coppery scent of the blood. But there Mirage was, unscathed, not a scratch on her. "That was but a minor trick," the Ringmaster said to the crowd, "I have much more up my sleeve."

His red eyes then began to scan the audience. "Now, if I could have a volunteer…." His eyes then met Alice's, and not only was she hit by that same sense of familiarity, but also a sense of forewarn. "How about you, my dear?" he asked and beckoned to her with his hand. There was a sly grin on his face, as if he knew something she didn't.

A voice in the back of Alice's mind was telling her to say no, but for some reason, that voice couldn't get through to her brain; it was like something was blocking her sense of reasoning. So, despite that little voice's protest, Alice stood up and walked from her seat.

She stepped over the small barricade and onto the stage, where the Ringmaster took her hand. He led her to the center of the stage and the spotlights focused on them. Now, Alice found herself being stared at by hundreds of distant, faraway eyes.

Her heart began to speed up. Why had she come onto this stage? She didn't want to be there, under the light and beside somebody that she didn't know anything about, and yet she could swear that she knew. The Ringmaster looked at Alice and said, "You have such lovely hair, my dear. It's truly an unique color of orange, almost like the color of fire. You don't see this shade very often. Do you mind if I try and recreate it?"

Alice raised an eyebrow in confusion. Recreate her hair color? What did he mean about that? "Uh…," was all she could get out of her mouth before the Ringmaster shot his hand out at her. When he did, orange flames burst forth and wrapped around her body.

Alice screamed and swatted at her body to try and beat out the flames. When she didn't feel her skin burning, she stopped hitting herself and looked down at her body. The fire was touching her, but it wasn't causing her skin to burn or bubble up. But down at the floor, just around where her feet were, the ground was getting charred by the flames.

This was real fire, fire that could burn down houses and forests. Yet, she wasn't being harmed. _How? How is he doing this? _she wondered to herself. The fire then dissipated, revealing to the audience that Alice had not been harmed or touched by the flames. The Ringmaster took a step closer to her and asked, "What do you think? Did I get the color right?"

Alice didn't know what he was talking about for a moment, then remembered when she caught a glimpse of one of her orange curls out of the corner of her eye. "Uh, yes, I think you did," she said. Alice hadn't really paid much attention; she had been too focused on the fact that her body had been consumed by fire.

Seeing how close they were, Alice decided to take advantage of it and made the gap between them smaller. She whispered to the Ringmaster, "You set me on fire, I think the least you can do is show me your face." It was a plan, and if the Ringmaster went through with it, then it was a great plan. If she could get him to reveal his face, then maybe she could figure out why she recognized him, why he seemed so familiar.

The Ringmaster smirked and said, "Sure, why not?" He reached up and grabbed the black and silver-accented mask, then slowly lifted it from his face. Alice felt her eyes go wide and a gasp escaped her lips. She blinked, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, but there was no denying it. Standing before her was none other than Shun.

* * *

There won't be an upload tomorrow because I have a football game. There should be one Saturday, though, but if something comes up last minute then I'm sorry. Anywho, read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	8. Prisoner

_~O~_

Alice took a step backwards and lost her footing, but even as she fell, she never took her eyes from the person standing in front of her. She kept her gaze locked onto the person that resembled Shun and asked, "W-What?…..How?" Alice shook her head, unable to formulate her real question into a full sentence.

The copycat smiled slyly and asked, "Is something the matter, my dear?" Alice found herself shocked by how even the man's voice was somewhat similar to Shun's; it might have just been slightly deeper, however. "Who…..Who are you?" she demanded. Alice tried to keep her voice steady but failed as the trembling fear made its way to the surface of her words.

With a smile on his face, the man said, "I am the Ringmaster, the one who rules over this Circus. Who else would I be?" Alice continued to shake her head, refusing to believe that any of this was real. She had to be dreaming, she just had to be; that was the only logical explanation to what was going on. Perhaps she had fallen asleep during the show.

However, as if able to read minds, the Ringmaster smiled and told her, "Rest assured, this is no dream. You are wide awake." Alice felt a weight form in her stomach; she had had a feeling that this was all somehow real, but had been clinging to the hope that it was just a nightmare. Now, with the Ringmaster's verification, she knew all too well that this was really real. She turned her head to the side and glanced over at her friends.

The four of them still sat in their seats, their eyes glazed over and locked onto something that they could only see. "Dan! Runo!" she called out in an attempt to get their attention. None of them even blinked. Beside her, the Ringmaster chuckled. Alice turned to look at him and narrowed her eyes.

"What have you done with them and the rest of the audience?" she asked, motioning back over to her hypnotized friends. The Ringmaster looked over at the four friends, then back down at Alice. His grin only widened. "I've done nothing to them. They are simply seeing what Mirage wishes them to see," he said. Alice didn't quite understand what he was telling her. They were seeing what Mirage wanted them to see?

Alice moved her attention over to the mysterious woman that was the Ringmaster's assistant. "You know what a Mirage is, right?" Ringmaster asked, "It's something that you see, but isn't there, and that's exactly what Mirage's ability is; the power of deception." Alice tried to comprehend the fact that this woman was able to make people see things that didn't exist.

She then turned her attention back over to the Ringmaster and asked, "If that's the case, then how do I know if you're not a mirage as well?" This earned a laugh from the copycat. "I promise you that I am real as can be," he managed to say as his laughter died down. Alice shook her head and said, "But….None of this makes sense…How…..How can you possibly look like my friend?"

She slowly stood up to her feet and faced the doppelganger. He stared back at her, his gaze never wavering. Alice felt a small chill creep up her spine as she looked into his dark, blood-red eyes; they were almost inhuman. _This definitely isn't Shun. It just can't be, _she thought to herself.

The Ringmaster took a step closer to Alice and said, "I am not the friend you are speaking of; I merely look like him. You see, I am much different from you and the people in this audience. All of you possess mortality, and a fleeting life on this Earth. I, on the other hand, have been around for countless centuries, and it's all thanks to one thing; magic."

Alice stared up at the Ringmaster as if he had said the most ludicrous thing she had ever heard, and it was. "Magic? There's no such thing," she said, "This has got to be a dream. Either that or you're some creep that stalked Shun and stole his identity and then drugged this entire audience. That, to me, makes a lot more sense than magic."

The Ringmaster's smile never faded, even though Alice had just disowned the insane idea of magic being real. "Ah, a nonbeliever, huh?" he said with a nod of his head, "We need to change that, then." He lifted his hand and pointed it at Alice. The air around her suddenly grew thin and cold, as if their altitude had changed. Alice, each time she took in a breath, found it harder and harder to breathe in the thinning air.

She reached up to her throat and coughed. "What…..What are you doing?" she wheezed and crumbled to her knees. Ringmaster smiled and said, "Just a little demonstration." He then turned his hand over and made his palm face upward. Right as he did that, Alice felt something crawl over her hands.

She looked down and found little tendrils of darkness slithering about on the ground. She cried out and tried to shake them from the back of her hands, but found that they had pinned her hands to the ground. Alice struggled to free herself, but it was just like being chained down. "Let me go! Let me go!"

Alice screamed as she continued to fight. Ringmaster simply stood there and smirked down at her. "It's so much fun to watch people struggle," he said slyly. The dark tendrils then began to make their way up Alice's arms and up to her shoulders. Now, it looked as if her arms had been painted black or dipped in tar. "Help me!" she cried. A few more seconds passed, and more and more of her body was consumed by the fluid-like shadows.

The encompassing darkness limited her movements even more, making it difficult to fight against its hold. Alice's face was soaked with tears by the time the tendrils reached her neck. She shuddered as she felt one crawl its way closer to face. "Make it stop! Please!" she begged the Ringmaster.

A tendril made its presence known outside the corner of her eye. She cried harder. _This is going to kill me. I'm going to die, _she thought grimly. Ringmaster knelt down in front of her and said, "Just relax. It'll be over in a minute." Alice swallowed the lump in her throat and shut her eyes tightly as more of the darkness covered her face. She then felt as the rest of her face was consumed, and then, she felt nothing.

_~O~_

Alice slowly opened her eyes and found herself laying on a floor of tightly-packed dirt. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and cringed as she felt the numb pain that radiated throughout her body. Her head pounded, and her vision wasn't completely clear; however, she could still make out what was around her.

She could tell that she was inside one of the Circus tents, but that was it. There was nothing else in the tent except for chairs set up for a nonexistent audience. "Where….?" she started but stopped before finishing her question when she saw the Ringmaster sitting in one of the steel folding chairs.

Alice tensed at the sight of him. "Stay away!" she warned and tried to get up and run, but her weakened body wasn't allowing it. Instead of putting distance between them, she fell hard onto the ground. The Ringmaster crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I don't know where you plan on going from here."

Alice looked at him with an expression of skepticism and asked, "What are you talking about? I plan on getting my friends back and then getting far away from this madhouse." Ringmaster shook his head and told her, "That's not what I meant. What I was trying to say is that you can't leave this place without my assistance."

Alice tilted her head to the side, not understanding what was being said to her. Ringmaster stood from the chair he was sitting in and made his way over to where Alice laid on the floor. He then said, "This place you're in is a place of my own creation. It's a world on its own, a place I call the Nether, and only Mirage and myself are able to travel in and out of it."

After the display Alice experienced back in the main tent, she didn't doubt that the Ringmaster was telling the truth. He had the ability to do impossible things, so she didn't want to question whether or not he could create his own world. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked without preamble. Ringmaster paced around her and kept his blood-red eyes locked onto her, which made Alice feel like prey in the eyes of a predator.

"I brought you here because you might be a threat. For some reason, you were able to break free of the hold I had over the audience. You should have been a zombie like everyone else, and completely unaware of what was really going on around you. Yet, somehow, you snapped out of that spell and became coherent. Maybe it was just dumb luck, or perhaps I didn't have control over the crowd as much as I thought I did. Regardless, this could mean you're a threat, and until I am able to figure out how you did this, you're staying right here in the Nether."

He then turned on his heels and vanished before her very eyes. Alice stared at where the Ringmaster had previously been standing, then slowly forced her tired body to stand. Her legs felt like lead as she made her way over to the flap of the tent. She pulled the flap to the side and gasped.

In front of her was a vast expanse of darkness, and floating around in this darkness, were Circus tents. Alice looked down into the endless void below and slipped back into the tent that had become her prison, for she was unable to handle the emptiness that surrounded her and the floating tents. She then walked over to the far end of the tent and sat back down on the hard ground, where she laid her head on her knees and cried.

* * *

Sorry for not uploading the past week or so; I had some major computer problems and it had to go into the shop. But I'm back now. However, I don't know if I'll finish this by Halloween like i planned (bad time management on my part). So, i apologize but will continue on this story. Also, I saw a story on the site that's somewhat similar to this one. I mean, it's called 'Circus Psycho' and the summary is kind of similar and blah blah blah. I'm not going to report it, but I just want you all to check it out and tell me your opinions if you think it's like this story or not. Thanks, and please, read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	9. Search And Rescue

_~O~_

After what might have been an hour, Alice's tears stopped flowing. She wasn't sure if she had stopped crying because she had finally calmed down, or if she had just run dry. Regardless, she was thankful that it had ceased, for her sides ached from her constant sobbing.

She lifted her head from her knees and looked closely at her surroundings for the first time. There was nothing that really stood out about the Circus tent that was her prison except for the only thing inside, other than herself, were chairs. Other than that, it looked like any other tent she had been in that night. Although, there was one thing that separated this tent from the others; there was no leaving.

Alice had found that out the hard way after the Ringmaster left her by her lonesome. She had gone over and peered out of the tent flap, only to find that the tent was floating out in black expanse of space. Looking out at all of that emptiness had scared her and sent her running back into her prison.

Now, she was a bit more calm and acclimated to her new surroundings, so she decided to give it another shot. Alice took her time getting to her feet. Before making her away across the tent, she made sure she was completely composed. When she was a hundred percent sure she could handle what was on the other side of the tent flap, she strode across the tent. Alice reached out and grabbed hold of the flap.

She closed her eyes, thinking that maybe it would look different on the other side, but when she pulled the fabric back, disappointment weighed her down. It was still the same. Tents floated weightlessly in the black space, something that should have been completely impossible.

But with all the events that had transpired that night, the impossible was now completely possible, as Alice had come to find out. She glanced down at the abyss below and gulped; heights were something that made Alice uncomfortable to be around. It didn't help that that she couldn't see the bottom of the abyss either. Perhaps if she could have seen the ground it wouldn't have been that bad.

Alice leaned forward a bit more to try and see around the tent and felt as her footing slipped. She cried out in surprise as she fell from the safety of her tent. Expecting to feel herself plummeting into the endlessness below, she shut her eyes tightly and screamed. But her sounds of terror slowly faded when she realized that she was not falling, but rather floating in midair.

Alice stared in amazement. Curious, she moved her arms and legs as if swimming and found that she could move about in the air. Knowing that she couldn't fall provided her with a sense of relief, but the heights still made her uneasy. So, to get away from that, she 'swam' back to her tent and stepped back onto the entrance so she could get the sense of something solid beneath her feet.

It was somewhat comforting knowing that she could leave her prison, though. Although, it would have been even more of a relief if she could have left the Nether completely. _Maybe there is a way out of here, _she thought hopefully. It would make sense if something happened and the Ringmaster needed another way out of this world.

The problem was that Alice didn't even know where to begin looking, and even if she did know, there was no guarantee that there would be a back door. She felt herself deflate a bit. Was it too much to ask for a sliver of hope? With a heavy sigh, Alice readied herself to go back into her tent when she heard it.

It was familiar to her, something that she could identify any place at anytime. The sound of it filled her with both excitement, and at the same time, dread. It was Shun, and he was screaming.

_~O~_

Shun had wished that he had stayed unconscious, for if he had, then he would have been saved the agony he was now enduring. He had blacked out not long ago when a massive amount of his life energy had been sapped by the Ringmaster, as his ghost companion, Trey, had explained.

That had been the only moment of peace that Shun had experienced since being locked away in a cage by the Ringmaster. But now, as more of his life force was taken away, the pain hit him and brought him back into consciousness. He screamed and writhed on the floor of his cage, begging for it to end; it hurt even more than the last time. The pain could only be described as something similar to a weight crushing down on his body.

"Make it stop!" he screamed. The ghostly presence of the Ringmaster's last victim simply hovered in the air above. "I can't do anything to help you…..," he said sadly. Shun could tell that it bothered Trey to be this helpless, especially since the ghost had gone through the same thing years ago. The pain intensified and the raven-haired teen bit down on his lower lip to try and ease his growing agony.

Not a moment later, he tasted blood in his mouth from where he had punctured the skin of his lip with his teeth. Then, as quickly and as suddenly as it began, the pain slowly began to fade. However, this did little for the phantom pains that still coursed through Shun's body.

He lay on the floor in a crumpled heap, weak and drained; he wasn't sure how much more of this his body could take. Tears blurred his vision and stained his face. His breathing was short and ragged. Overall, he felt, and sounded, like he was dying, which he was. "Just….Just make it stop," he pleaded weakly. The ghost simply frowned and adverted his gaze from Shun. Perhaps

Trey was unable to look at the raven-haired teen because it reminded him of the horrible fate that had befallen him all those years ago. "Trust me, I wish I could," the ghost said under his breath. Shun shut his eyes tightly and sobbed, not only from the pain he was still in, but also from the sheer magnitude of what he was going through. How was it that he had to die in such a manner?

What did he do to deserve such a cruel fate? Was it fair that he had to suffer for hours while somebody else slowly drained away his life? He just wanted it to end. At this point, death seemed more and more welcoming, because death meant an end to his suffering. Trey turned his back to the raven-haired teen and said darkly, "Hold out a little bit longer. It'll all be over soon enough. Trust me."

_~O~_

The screams had turned from those of pain, to those of sheer agony; they had sent chills down Alice's spine and made her feel sick to her stomach. It was Shun who was suffering, she knew that much. And that meant that he, too, was trapped somewhere in the Nether like her.

Alice stepped further back into her tent and covered her ears with the palms of her hands in an attempt to drown out Shun's cries of agony. But by the time she did this, they stopped, and a deafening silence took over the Nether. Slowly, as if not trusting the quiet, she lowered her hands from the sides of her head.

The silence was almost as painful as having to listen to Shun scream, for it meant that something had happened to quiet him down. Alice sat down in one of the metal folding chairs that surrounded the stage and found that her hands were shaking. What was happening to Shun that could have possibly been so bad to make him scream like that? It made her nervous and sick to think about it.

Alice sat in her chair, waiting to hear his cries of pain reverberate throughout the Nether again, but they never came. Her worry only grew, and eventually, she got to the point where she couldn't stand to sit in her chair any longer. She stood up and hurried over to the tent flap and threw it back, revealing the Nether and all of its vastness.

_Shun's somewhere out there and he needs help, _she thought to herself, _and I may be the only one who can help him. _Alice figured he had to be in one of the many tents that floated about in the strange world, so it seemed easy enough to float from one tent to another in search of the raven-haired teen. Alice took in a shaky breath and leaped out into the space before her.

Her body floated weightlessly and she moved along as if she were in water. She drifted down to the closest tent to hers and opened the flap to it. The inside was identical to the one she just left, and there didn't appear to be a soul in sight. Alice didn't feel deterred, though. There were still plenty of other tents for her to look for Shun in, and she would search everyone last one of them if it meant she could save her friend.

With determination fueling her, Alice floated to several more tents and checked them. Shun was in none of them, either. She didn't stop searching. After looking in nearly every tent, she came to the last one that she hadn't been in. If Shun wasn't inside this one, then she didn't know where else to look for him. Alice floated up to where the tent flap should have been and found that there was not one.

Puzzled, she circled the whole thing and came up empty; there was no visible way inside. She touched the tent fabric and found that it was solid and as real as any of the others. Then, in a moment of suspended silence, she heard mumbled words and sobs coming from inside, words and sobs that belonged to Shun.

Her heart stopped for a brief moment, then sped up to where she thought it might explode from her chest. _He's inside! _Alice started pushing on the outside of the tent and shouted, "Shun! Shun, it's me! It's Alice!" Tears of relief poured from her eyes. He wasn't dead yet. There was still a chance to save him, if only she could get inside.

* * *

Hi, guys. I almost didn't update today (it's been one of those days and I've been dealing with some depression since yesterday), but I pushed through it and got back on track, much to my own relief. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so please read and leave review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	10. Trial And Error

_~O~_

Shun heard it, but just barely. It was the faintest of shouts, one that would have slipped by him unnoticed if it hadn't been so quiet at the moment. He placed the voice too, but refused to believe it was really her; it had to be a trick. Perhaps the Ringmaster was back and messing with him, trying to get him to break all the quicker by making him hear the voices of his friends.

If this was the case, then Ringmaster was even more demented than Shun thought. Was all of this suffering not enough? Did he really have to endure the sounds of his friends calling out to him, too? It was almost too much. Shun tried to ignore the voice that was calling out to him, but it didn't seem to do much.

No matter how hard he tried, Shun could still hear his name being called. _Insane, I'm going insane. People lose their minds when faced with death. I must be doing the same, _he thought to himself. Yet, even with this logic still fresh on his mind, he couldn't help but ask, "Do you hear that?"

The ghost that shared the tent with Shun looked down at the raven-haired teen, his translucent face a mask of confusion. "Hear what?" the specter asked. Shun groaned as he forced his weakened body to roll from his back to his right side. "A voice, a girl's voice," he said hoarsely.

Trey raised one of his ghostly eyebrows, then closed his eyes as he tried to listen. A second later, his eyes opened and he said, "Yeah, now that you mention it, I hear something, too." Shun felt his previous doubts about his sanity fade away; if Trey heard it as well, then was there a possibility that it was real? The raven-haired teen shivered as a little bit more of his life was drained from him.

The only upside was at least he was no longer screaming in pain. At least, for the time being. Trey floated outside of the magical cage that Shun was trapped in and said, "It sounds like the voice is coming from outside of the tent. I can pass through the wall and see if that's the case."

Shun didn't say anything; he was too weak to be wasting his words on such menial responses. The specter then slid through the wall of the tent and vanished. And not a moment later, Trey returned, but this time, not by himself.

_~O~_

Alice hit and tugged at the outside of the tent, hoping to perhaps tear loose a piece of the fabric and make herself a door. Sadly, this didn't work out how she had wanted it to. It upset her to know that she was so close to saving Shun and the only thing keeping her from doing so was the wall of a Circus tent.

Her temper flared at one point, and she kicked the tent wall out of frustration. "Stupid thing!" she shouted with another kick. She then placed her forehead against the wall of the tent and felt as tears stung at her eyes. _So close, _she thought to herself, _I'm so close to helping him! _

Inside the tent, Alice could just barely hear the sounds of mumbled words. Although, she couldn't make out anything that was being said. It didn't matter, though. What did matter was the fact that she could still hear Shun on the other side, which meant that he was still alive.

"Who are you?" a voice asked to her right. Alice gasped and jumped back in surprise. She then turned to see who was talking to her and felt her blood run cold. Floating in front of her was a translucent, pale white figure; a ghost. He wasn't a terrifying ghost, though.

In fact, Alice thought that when he was alive, he might have been rather attractive. Seeing the specter didn't bother when compared to all of the other crazy stuff that had happened thus far. "I-I'm….I'm Alice." The ghost floated closer to her and narrowed his eyes.

"Alright, Alice, what is somebody like you doing trapped here in the Nether?" he asked. Alice pressed her back against the tent wall behind her to try and put some distance between her and the ghost. However, the specter only seemed to get closer and closer the further she moved away. "I-I was put here by the Ringmaster. He said s-something about me being a threat to him," she explained.

Alice wasn't sure if that was a good enough explanation, but it would have to do. The ghost cocked an eyebrow and said, "A threat to Ringmaster? Never thought I'd see the day." Behind her, through the tent, Alice heard Shun again. She motioned to the tent behind her and quickly asked the ghost, "Do you know anyway that I can get inside this tent? I believe my friend is inside, and if he is, then he needs help."

The ghost seemed intrigued by this. He held out his gossamer hand and said, "I can get you inside the tent, but I'm making no promises that you can help your friend." For some reason, those words made Alice uncomfortable. What if she couldn't help Shun once she got inside?

She then began to weigh the options. If she stayed outside of the tent, then there definitely was no chance of her helping Shun. If she went inside, then there was a slight chance that she could do something. With her mind made up, Alice reached out and took the ghost's hand.

Rather then her own hand slipping through his, like she expected, it turned the same translucent color as his. Before she knew it, her whole body had turned into that of a specter. Alice gasped in surprise and was about to say something, but didn't get the chance before the ghost pulled her along through the wall of the tent.

She passed through the fabric with no problem, and when she was inside of the tent, the ghost let go of her, returning her to solid state. Gravity also worked in this tent and she fell to the ground with a thud. The ghost floated in front of her and asked, "Is this who you were looking for?" Alice looked beyond the specter and found a cage made of a dark mist, and inside of this cage was Shun.

Alice felt her eyes grow wide, and before she even knew it, she was running to the cage. "Shun!" She knelt down in front of the base of the structure and looked over the raven-haired teen. He was pale, and dark circles lined his eyes. Not to mention that it looked like he might have lost a couple of pounds.

"What happened to you?" Alice asked. She tried to keep her voice from wavering, but she knew that she was failing. Shun glanced up at her, his eyes glazed over and almost lifeless, and said weakly, "Ringmaster…." That was all Alice needed to hear or, rather, wanted to hear. But even though she didn't want to know the details as to why Shun was locked away and on the brink of death, the ghost must have thought otherwise.

He floated beside her and said, "He's right. The Ringmaster is responsible for this. You see, the Ringmaster has to find a new form every so often if he's to continue living, and your friend just so happened to fit the qualifications. The cage he's locked in is draining his life away and sending it to Ringmaster. Soon, your friend will be dead and Ringmaster will be able to live for several more decades."

Alice shook her head in disbelief; to think that something so dark and sinister was going on behind the scenes of the Circus was almost too much to comprehend. "I've got to get him out of this cage before it's too late," she muttered to herself. Alice began to reach out and grab hold of one of the magical cage bars when Shun's voice stopped her. "No, don't do that," he said hoarsely, "The cage will hurt you if you touch it."

She drew her hand back, then thought of something; she had somehow broken Ringmaster's mind control back during the main show. Perhaps she could get around his magic here as well. Ignoring Shun's warning, Alice reached out and took hold of a cage bar. Burning energy traveled up her arm and throughout her body.

She cried out not only from the sheer surprise of it, but also from the pain that followed; it was like being stabbed by hundreds of needles. She couldn't take the pain of it anymore and released the cage. Alice fell back onto the ground and clutched her hand tightly, which was burned to a pinkish color.

Shun, who had forced himself to sit up, looked at her and said breathlessly, "I told you…..not to do that." Alice adverted her eyes from him, unable to look at him after the foolish thing she had just done; grabbing hold of the cage could have killed her.

The ghost then spoke up and said, "Hey, hey, not so fast. She might have done something." Alice glanced at the specter and asked in a shaky voice, "Yeah, like what? Burn myself?" The ghost shook his head and told her, "No, something else. I noticed in the split second before you let go, the cage vanished."

_~O~_

Ringmaster stood before the mirror in his person tent, marveling over his new appearance; it was certainly one of the more attractive ones he had had in his lifetime. He leaned in closer to the mirror, inspecting the skin of his face for any signs of early wear and tear.

It was a good thing to do, seeing as one time, many years ago, he had obtained a new form that began to deteriorate right after the transformation was completed. Luckily, there were no signs of early aging on this form yet, and Ringmaster felt that this one would last him many, many years.

Comfortable with the way this new form was holding up, he walked away from the mirror and over to his wardrobe. Even though there were no more shows he had to perform in that night, he wished to change into something more reasonable and less extravagant for when he walked around the grounds of his Circus the rest of the night. But just as he reached out to open the wardrobe, he gasped for air and stumbled back.

Ringmaster clutched tightly to his chest, which had suddenly become tight. Blood pounded in his ears to the point of almost being deafening. Then, just as suddenly as it happened, the episode stopped. Ringmaster wobbled and grabbed onto the side of the wardrobe for balance.

His vision swam for a few seconds before finally coming into focus. "What the hell was that?" he wondered out loud. He tried to reason as to why he would have been overcome by such weakness, and as he pondered, it occurred to him; something must have happened to the magic cage that imprisoned the raven-haired teen.

If there was a disruption in the flow of energy, then it was very possible that Ringmaster could have felt it. He narrowed his eyes and growled, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to return to the Nether anymore tonight. Looks like I might have been mistaken."

* * *

Well, tomorrow is Halloween, and I really wished I had finished this story by then, but again, this was poor time management on my part. But I will try and upload tomorrow too, unless I get the chance to go out and terrorize some trick-or-treaters. :3 hehehehehehe. I love scaring little kids. So much fun. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	11. Foiled Plot

_~O~_

Alice stared at the ghostly apparition with an expression of confusion. The cage had vanished? She turned and looked back at the prison that held Shun. The bars of the cage looked as solid as ever. How was it that she had been able to make them vanish, even if it was just for a second?

Perhaps the ghost had been mistaken by what he saw. Alice shook her head and said, "I don't see how that's possible." This earned a snort from the spirit. "Really?" he scoffed, "After all that you've seen in this Circus, you still think things are impossible?" It was true; there were things happening in the Circus that should have never happened in the natural world.

"I suppose you have a point," she mumbled under her breath. Alice then glanced over at Shun, thinking that he might have something to add into the conversation, which he didn't. She took note of how much weaker he appeared after only a few short minutes. His face was ghostly white, and his eyes framed with nearly black circles. He looked like death incarnate.

_And he'll be that soon enough if we don't do something, _she thought grimly. Alice turned back to face the ghost and asked him, "Well, if you really did see the cage vanish, how do you know it was me? It might have just been a coincidence." The spirit shook his head and told her, "There are no such things as coincidences in this Circus." For some reason, those words didn't settle well with Alice.

Maybe it was the possibility of her actually having been the cause of the cage's brief disappearance. "Alright," she said breathlessly, "then how? How could I have possibly done it? I have no special powers like the Ringmaster or any of his Carnies."

The specter gave her a once over, inspecting her carefully as if to see if she was really telling the truth. He then narrowed his eyes and said to her, "You mentioned earlier that the Ringmaster threw you into the Nether because he saw you as a threat, right?" Alice nodded, not entirely sure as to what the spirit was getting at. "Do you mind me asking what exactly made him believe you were a threat?"

Alice stared down at her white shoes and told the ghost, "He said I had somehow broken his mind control he had over the audience, that I had made myself aware to my surroundings instead of remaining mindless like everyone else. I don't know how I did it, though. The only thing I recall is that I had looked into his eyes, and then it was like a fog clearing from my mind….."

The ghost cocked an eyebrow at her and said, "You looked into his eyes?" She nodded, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed for reasons she couldn't quite explain. "Yeah," she said uncomfortably, "I looked into them and was struck by a sense of familiarity…..Only after the Ringmaster removed his face mask did I realized why his eyes seemed so familiar….It was because they were Shun's eyes, only a different color."

The ghost stroked his translucent chin with his hand and said, "That is very peculiar. I've never heard of such a thing happening before. At least, not since I've been trapped here." This strange occurrence only made Alice feel even more uncomfortable. Out of the sheer awkwardness, she adverted her gaze from the specter.

By doing this, her eyes accidentally fell back onto the cage that held Shun. She saw that he had fallen unconscious. Worry and panic bubbling up inside of her, Alice quickly ran to the cage's side and knelt back down on the ground. "Shun! Wake up! Stay awake! You just have to hang in a bit longer until we can figure out how to get you out of there!" she said, her voice pleading and desperate.

Alice reached her hand out to grab onto the cage bars, but remembered what would happen if she made contact with them again and drew back. When she did, she glanced down at the still pink burns on her hands. They didn't hurt anymore, but occasionally, if she flexed her fingers, the burned skin would send needlepoint pain through her hand and up her arm.

Alice glanced up from her hands and through the bars of the cage at Shun. He wasn't in a peaceful state of unconsciousness, but rather one of pain and suffering. Every now and again his face would contort into an expression of discomfort. It pained Alice to see him like this, especially when she was so helpless as to do anything. _Or am I? _

She turned her face up to the specter and said, "You're positive you saw the cage vanish when I touched it?" He nodded and replied with, "I'm as positive about that as I am dead." That was all Alice needed to hear. She turned her attention back to the cage and focused on the glowing bars of magic energy.

Flexing her fingers, she reached out and took hold of the prison bars. Fiery pain shot through her hands, up her arms, and into her body. Alice cried out. It hurt more than the first time she took hold of the cage. Perhaps it was because this time she was meaning to hold on, rather than just a quick touch like she had done earlier.

For a brief moment, Alice thought she would have to release her grip, for the pain was starting to be too much to bear. But then she gazed through the bars at Shun's seemingly lifeless form and felt a renewed determination. If she didn't push through, if she didn't prevail, then Shun would remain trapped in his prison and continue to slowly die.

Alice bit down on her lower lip to combat the pain and tasted coppery liquid in her mouth; blood. The bars of the cage then began to flicker and fade away. It was working! With this realization, she pushed herself even harder, making herself even more determined to hold on to the bitter end. The cage then began to disintegrate before her very eyes.

Little flecks of purplish-black energy floated up into the air like ashes or dust. The bars she held in her hands vanished as well. Now, Alice stared at where the cage had once been and smiled triumphantly. But her smile quickly faded as fatigue took hold of her. The edges of her vision blurred, and the last thing she remembered was falling back onto the ground.

_~O~_

Ringmaster hurried quickly to the tent that housed the entrance to the Nether, his frustration fueling his fire to get there all the more. Something had happened; he had felt it. There had been a disturbance of sorts, one that had been strong enough to affect him in the real world.

He didn't know exactly what must have happened, but what he did know was that it concerned the raven-haired teen that he had selected as his new host. If it were any other kind of disturbance, like an intruder to the Nether, he wouldn't have paid it any mind, but this was different.

This concerned his life, his future, and he would not sit by idly while that was put at risk. Ringmaster brushed past several of his fellow performers on the way to his tent. They greeted him, but he didn't acknowledge them back; there was no time. Ringmaster finally arrived at his tent.

He threw the flap back and hurried inside. The air around him quivered at his anger. He strode to the place where the entrance to the Nether resided; the very middle of the tent. It was an entrance invisible to any eye, even his own, but since he was the one who placed it, he knew exactly where it was at.

He was also the only one who could open it. Well, him and Mirage, if she really needed to have access. Ringmaster reached into the pocket of his coat and retrieved a dagger. The silver steel glimmered in the dull light of the tent. The hilt of the blade was fairly ornate, adorned with jewels and fancy engravings.

Ringmaster remembered when he got the weapon off one of his victims from a long, long time ago. There was no time to reminisce, though, so he placed the blade of the dagger to his palm and readied to draw his blood, which was the key to the Nether. But just as the blade started to bite into his skin, he gasped out in pain, not from the knife, but from something else entirely.

It was like the pain he had felt before, the pain that had alerted to him that something was amiss in the Nether. Except this time, it was a hundred times worse. It took his breath away, made it hard for him to breathe. Ringmaster clutched his chest and crumbled to his knees.

He could taste blood pooling in his mouth and spit it out. A tiny puddle of red liquid splashed on the floor in front of him. His pulse pounded in his ears. "What's…..What's happening?!" he wheezed. Ringmaster fell over onto the floor on his side, clutching tightly to his chest.

He writhed and yelled obscenities in his moment of agony. Then, much to his relief, it stopped. Ringmaster laid on the ground, breathing heavily and coughing up blood before he could choke on it and asphyxiate. Without any of his usual grace, he clambered up on his hands and knees and began to crawl over to the chair that sat in front of his mirror. He reached up and took hold of it with a trembling hand and pulled himself to his feet.

When he stood up, with added support from the chair, he nearly fell back as he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. The young, once flawless face he had acquired from the raven-haired teen, had now started to wrinkle and age. The jet-black hair on his head had also started to gray at the ends.

The Ringmaster was aging. "No," he said hoarsely, "how can this be?! This can't be happening!" He ran his hands along his face, checking to see if the lines of aging were really real. They were. He shouldn't have been aging, not for decades, at least. It then occurred to him what this meant. The Ringmaster was aging because something had happened to the magical cage he had put the raven-haired teen in.

As impossible as it seemed to him, the cage was gone; it was the only way to explain this. And since the transformation was not complete, his form was starting to deteriorate before his very eyes. Ringmaster clutched his hand into a fist and growled. With wobbly legs, he turned on his heels and stomped over to where he had dropped the dagger, picked it up, and drove it into his hand.

Blood spilled out onto the floor and a portal opened. The Nether now stared back at him, its spacious, cold embrace welcoming him back. Although, Ringmaster didn't feel like being welcomed. He passed through the portal and floated about in the zero gravity of the world he created.

His blood-red eyes looked across the Nether and locked onto the tent that was his goal. At the sight of it, his rage boiled hotter and he didn't hesitate to start heading in that direction.

* * *

Back, at least for today. There won't be an upload tomorrow, for I'm going out of town super early that morning. I might upload Sunday, though. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. So, please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	12. For The Love Of It All

_~O~_

Shun was suddenly overcome with relief. No longer was he in excruciating pain. However, he didn't know why his suffering had ended so abruptly. Then again, why would he question the fact that he was no longer hurting? It still bothered him nonetheless. Perhaps he had finally succumbed to the Ringmaster's magic and died; it was an inevitable outcome anyway.

But if he had died, shouldn't he have gone into some sort of light like in the movies? Or have seen somebody deceased from his past? Maybe he was thinking about death too literally. Maybe nothing extravagant happened when you died. A realization hit him; he had his eyes closed. Flexing the muscles in his face, he forced his eyelids open and found himself blinding by the floating lights overhead.

Shun squinted against the light until his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. When they did, he found that he was still in the same tent, but there was something very different this time. It didn't take him very long to realize that the magical cage that had held him prisoner was gone.

Despite the weakness that permeated his body, he found the strength to sit up. He began to look around, searching for the cage; there was no sign of it anywhere. "What…?" he said under his breath, but stopped short of finishing his question when he saw Alice. Shun's eyes widened at the sight of her unconscious form lying on the ground. "Alice!" he shouted and hurried to her side.

Shun reached out to try and shake her awake, but froze when he saw her hands. Alice's palms were burned to the point that the top layer of the skin had peeled away. The injuries didn't stop there. The burns ascended up her arms and faded towards her elbows, transitioning from painful red to tender pink. "Alice….," Shun said, his voice filled with shock. Suddenly, a voice from behind said, "She'll be fine."

The raven-haired teen turned around and found Trey floating behind him. He narrowed his eyes and asked the specter, "What happened to her?" The ghost hovered closer to them and looked down at Alice. "She freed you from the Ringmaster's prison. How she did it is something I am not entirely sure of, though," Trey explained.

Shun turned his attention back to Alice. He noticed the thin line of blood that ran down her chin from her lower lip. _She could have killed herself, _he realized gravely. Shun thought about how he would have felt if she had, in fact, died in the name of saving him; he was sure he would somehow find a way to blame himself for it.

Alice's cheek twitched, a sign that she might have been close to waking up. Shun felt his hope build, but he made sure not to let it get the best of him. "I do have a theory, though," Trey suddenly said. Shun had almost forgotten that the ghost was there. "And what would that be?" the raven-haired teen asked without taking his eyes from Alice.

"Ringmaster told her she was a threat when he threw her into the Nether because she was able to break his mind control. The girl told me that she somehow freed herself when she saw Ringmaster's eyes and found them familiar, and with good reason, too, seeing as they were practically identical to yours," the specter paused for a moment, making sure that Shun was following his explanation, and continued, "The only thing I can think of that could have possibly allowed her to break Ringmaster's magic is love."

Shun felt his eyes widen. He looked away from Alice and up at Trey. "Love?" he repeated. It sounded kind of sappy and cliché to the raven-haired teen; love breaking spells and magic was something only found in children's tales.

"You heard me correctly. Love is a very powerful emotion, more powerful than anything else, even anger. It's caused people unending happiness, and insurmountable pain, all at the same time. There are many different kinds of love, though. There's the love of a sibling and family, love of a friend or object, and, of course, love of a person. Either way, it's all the same, in a sense."

Shun continued to stare up at the spirit. He didn't know what to think of Trey's theory. The love that Alice felt was enough to break Ringmaster's magic? If that was the case, then there was one thing that bothered Shun above all else. Exactly what kind of love did she feel towards him? Trey had listed several different kinds, any of which Alice could have felt about him.

Perhaps it was her love of him as a friend, or like a family member; it couldn't have possibly been the last one that Trey had named off, right? For some reason, Shun didn't feel too confident in himself about that. "Why love, though?" he asked, trying desperately to clear his mind from those thoughts, "How can it possibly have broken Ringmaster's magic?"

The specter's expression was as serious as could be as he spoke. "Ringmaster is an ancient being, one that has been around for countless centuries, maybe even longer than that. While mortal beings try and fulfill their lives to the best of their extent, Ringmaster has no reason to. He has all the time in the world to gather what he feels is necessary for him to be happy, and by being able to do that, he has also been able to sift through what he doesn't need. Now, tell me this, what is one thing people look for more than anything else in their lifetimes, more than money, more than fame?"

Shun didn't even have to think of the answer; he already knew it. "Love," he said under his breath. Trey nodded and continued to speak.

"Exactly. What purpose does an immortal being need love for? He doesn't. And because of that, because he has never experienced it before, he has no idea how powerful it can be at times," the ghost elaborated, "His magic can't stand up to the power that love can bring. You know, love is both a pure and dark emotion, depending on how it is experienced. Perhaps if somebody were to have the darker side of love, then his magic would feed from it. But with the purest form of love, Ringmaster's magic crumbles. It's the only sense I can make out of this."

Shun stared down at the ground in front of him, taking in every fine detail of dirt and rock as if his life depended on it. Love was the Ringmaster's weakness? It almost sounded too insane to be true. Then again, that whole night had been insane.

He ran a hand through his raven-black hair and sighed heavily; his head still spun from having a good bit of his energy drained from him. Shun still had a hard time fathoming the fact that Alice had put her life on the line for him, had burned herself for him, all in the name of saving his life and….._And love, _he silently added. Perhaps she didn't have any conscious idea that she had risked her life out of love.

Knowing Alice, she had probably just been trying to help him because it was the right thing to do, and because he was her friend. But no matter how much Shun tried to reason this all out in his head, his mind just couldn't do it. His thoughts were all a jumbled mess that kept going back to the word _love _again and again. Maybe if he knew _what _kind of love it was, then he could relax.

But for some reason, when he thought about her experiencing the first two kinds of love Trey had mentioned, he felt kind of disappointed. Was it possible that he wished that she had done it out of love strictly for him, not as a friend? Beside him, Alice began to stir.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she gazed up at him and Trey. Shun decided that he would confront her about the whole 'love' matter when they got out of the Circus. _If we even ever get out, _he thought bitterly. But he didn't want his worries and troubles to show, so he smiled down at her and said, "Hey, you're awake."

_~O~_

When Alice regained consciousness, she was surprised to find that Shun had done the same; she figured he would have still been out cold, seeing as all he had gone through that night. He smiled down at her, a smile of both relief and sorrow, and said to her, "Hey, you're awake." For some reason, Alice had half-expected the first thing he said to her would have been a bit more…..gratifying, perhaps.

She _had _saved his life, after all. She didn't voice her disappointment aloud, though; this wasn't the time. Alice started to sit up and felt her head swim as she did so, but she pushed through it and asked Shun, "Do you think you should be up and about right now? You did almost die."

Shun gave her a look of amusement and said back, "I could be asking you the same thing. That was a crazy thing you did, grabbing onto the cage and putting your life on the line like that. You could have killed yourself." Alice felt a bit embarrassed at being lectured by Shun about her choice to save him, just as she had felt earlier when she first touched the cage, despite Shun's warning to her.

"I know," she said with a sigh, "but it was the only thing I could think of doing at the time. You were laying in there dying, and that ghost said that I had made the cage vanish for a moment when I first touched it, so I figured if I held on a bit longer, I could make it go away completely, which I did…I just don't know exactly _how _I did it." Shun adverted his gaze from her as he said quietly, "I don't know how you did it either."

He then turned back to her and said, "I'm grateful for it, though. At least now I'm not at risk of dying. Not like that, anyway. However, there's still the Ringmaster that we need to worry about. I'm sure by know he's figured out that his magic cage has been destroyed, so we need to hurry up and find someway out of here." Alice nodded in agreement.

She noticed that he looked a lot better than he had when he had been trapped in the cage. He was starting to regain some color to his face, and the dark circles around his eyes were fading. However, there was a certain tiredness behind his eyes, a kind that Alice didn't think was entirely from his near-death experience.

If anything, it reminded her of a kind of tiredness that people sometimes experienced when they worried themselves sick over something. She wondered if he had been worrying himself because of her risking her life to save him; it seemed like something Shun would do.

Alice shivered, suddenly gripped by a cold wind that seemed to sneak into the tent. She thought nothing about it. Over to her right, the ghost, which she had momentarily forgotten about, spoke up and said, "Well, you two better hatch a plan to get out of here quick."

Shun looked over at the specter and asked him, "Why do you say that?" The ghost looked both of them dead in the eyes and said, "Cause Ringmaster is here."

* * *

Yup, throwing in some cliches. It's either that or continue having writer's block. I think it'll work, though. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	13. Love Conquers All

_~O~_

Alice felt her heart stop for a moment when she heard those words leave the spirit's mouth. "How do you know Ringmaster is in the Nether?" she asked. Alice refused to believe it. Maybe the ghost was wrong. It didn't matter what the reasoning was, just as long as they had more time. If the Ringmaster really was in the Nether, then they were trapped and at his mercy.

The thought sent an inhuman chill down Alice's spine; there was no telling what all he would do to them. The spirit looked at her and said flatly, "I've been a part of the Nether for decades, remember? I'm able to sense disturbances that are caused by people entering and leaving." Alice shook her head and suggested, "Maybe it's not the Ringmaster. Maybe it's Mirage."

The ghost shook his head; he appeared to be getting annoyed. Or, at least, as annoyed as a ghost could get. "No, it's Ringmaster. He's the only one who is capable of causing such a large disturbance. And regardless, even if it was Mirage, you'd both be in about the same amount of danger." Shun turned to face Alice and said in all seriousness, "Either way, we need to stop wasting time and get out of here before they catch us."

Alice nodded, knowing that he was right; the more time they wasted, the more their chances of survival decreased. "How do we even go about getting out of here, though?" she asked. A silence hung in the air as the three of them waited for somebody to give an answer.

Both Alice and Shun turned to the ghost. The specter realized that they were looking to him for guidance on their situation, and Alice could see that he was just as lost as they were. "I don't know anyway out of here. Trust me, if I did, I wouldn't still be trapped here." Alice ran a hand through her hair and growled in aggravation. They were so close to freedom, and now a new obstacle had put itself between them and their escape once more.

Suddenly, the ghost spoke up and said, "Wait, I think I might have figured something out. There's a disturbance still in the fabric of the Nether towards the North. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think Ringmaster might have left the portal open. If you two could reach it there without being caught, then there's a good chance you can get out." Alice and Shun exchanged a quick glance at one another.

It was the only plan they had, and at the moment, the best; it certainly was a better plan that waiting around in the tent for the Ringmaster to come along and kill them. "We better stop wasting time and get going, then. Ringmaster will show up any-" Shun was unable to finish his speaking when a section of the tent caught fire. The flames rose up, eating away at the fabric until an opening was left behind, and through that opening walked in the Ringmaster.

His red eyes burned with rage, and the very air around him seethed. His gaze locked onto Alice and Shum; the ghost had suddenly vanished from sight. The two teens took several steps back, putting distance between them and the Ringmaster. Alice quickly took note that Ringmaster no longer looked as young and youthful as he had before. He had lines on age on his face and had lost his glow of youth.

Now, instead of looking twenty years old, he looked more like fifty. And it was apparent that, as time went on, Ringmaster was aging more and more. "You," he snarled as he locked his blood-red eyes onto Alice, "You did this, didn't you? You somehow broke my magic again!" Alice gulped and took several more steps back. As she did so, her foot caught on a chair behind her. She stumbled and fell back onto the ground.

"Alice!" Shun called out to her. He started to run to her side, but Ringmaster was quicker. He sent forth chains of black mist that wrapped themselves around Shun's ankles, causing the raven-haired teen to fall to the ground; the force of the fall had bloodied up his nose and lip. "I suggest you stay put," Ringmaster growled and turned his attention back to Alice.

"I knew I should have just disposed of you the moment I realized that you were a threat to me, but no, I just had to give you the benefit of the doubt by thinking you might have been useful to me." He reached down and grabbed a handful of Alice's orange hair, then yanked her up to her feet. She whimpered as tears formed in her eyes from the pain.

"Now," Ringmaster spat, "do you mind telling me how exactly you broke my magic two times in a row? I think you at least owe me that before I kill you, don't you agree?" Alice sobbed and tried to look away from the Ringmaster, but he kept making her keep eye contact. "I don't know how I did it!" she cried. Her attacker shook her, sending new waves of pain into her head, and shouted, "Lies! Now, tell me!"

All this did was make Alice cry harder. Across the room, she heard Shun yell, "Let go of her! She doesn't know what she did, so leave her alone! This is between you and me!" She heard the desperation in his voice. Ringmaster glanced over at the raven-haired boy and said, "Unless you know how she did it, then this isn't just between you and I, boy." The tent was silent, minus the muffled sounds of Alice's sobs.

She was trying desperately not to cry and look weak, but it was almost impossible to do with the amount of fear she was feeling. Her heart pounded in her chest and ears, and for a split second, she thought her heart might just beat itself to death; it probably would have been a better fate than murdered by the hands of the Ringmaster. Shun stared at the Ringmaster with steely eyes and finally broke the silence.

"But I do know how she broke your magic," he said flatly. Alice felt Ringmaster's grip on her hair go slack for a moment, but before she had a chance to get away, he had resumed his hold on her. "And what might that be?" he inquired. Shun narrowed his eyes and said sternly, "I'll tell you, only if you let her go first." This earned a laugh from Ringmaster.

"Let her go? You're more foolish than I thought, boy. How am I supposed to know if you're bluffing?" Shun glanced down at the chains the bound his feet together and said, "There isn't much I can bluff about tied up from over here, now is there?" Ringmaster seemed to consider this for a moment. He finally shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fine." He released his grip on Alice's hair and she fell to the ground on her knees, scrapping the skin of her kneecaps when she landed.

Then, on hands and knees, she crawled away a couple feet away from the Ringmaster and hid behind a metal folding chair for safety. "Now that she's been let go, you can tell me," he mused. Shun narrowed his eyes and struggled to stand; the chains of darkness on his ankles made this a difficult task for him, especially since he was still weak and drained of energy.

"You've been around for a long time, right? So I'm sure at one point or another you have heard of the old saying 'love conquers all?' Well, that saying applies to this." The Ringmaster's facial expression turned from one of amusement, to one of confusion. "What does that have to do with the girl dispelling my magic?" he asked bluntly.

Shun squared his shoulders back and said, "I wondered the same thing, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Love is a pure, raw emotion. It is both good and evil, depending on the strength and situation in which it is felt. Pure love, love in good intentions, is enough to erase even the strongest of doubts in a person, and even erase your magic. The magic you use has no need for love. It's founded on nothing but greed and vanity, two things that are not found in pure love. So, naturally, when your magic came in contact with this emotion, it simply crumbled away. I hope that helped shed some light onto your confusion. Then again, it can't be easy for a loveless creature as yourself to understand such a concept."

Alice, hidden begin her chair, stared at Shun, his words still lingering about in her mind. Love? She hadn't thought the word applied to how she felt towards Shun. Then again, when she thought about the actions she took in order to free him from the cage, they had all been done out of pure intentions.

If she hadn't cared about Shun, then there was no way she would have put her life on the line to save him. Heck, when she thought about it even more, she wondered if she would have done the same for any of her other friends. Alice felt that she would have done the same for them, too.

However, she might have tried to find another way of freeing them, a way that didn't involve asking risking her life. Her mind was now jumbled, confused. What _did _she feel for Shun? In front of her, Ringmaster drew his lips back in a savage snarl and said, "Is that so? If that's the case, then I'll take the both of you and your so-called 'love' and crush you all." Ringmaster held his hand out and directed it towards Shun.

The raven-haired teen then started to float off of the ground. He kicked and pedaled his feet in an attempt to return to the floor below. "I'm not going to kill you just yet, seeing as you still have life energy that I need to complete my transformation. So, in the meantime, I think I'll just break a couple hundred or so of your bones to teach you a lesson."

Ringmaster started lifting his hand up, a motion that told Alice that he was about to slam Shun into the ground. "No!" she screamed and ran out from behind the safety of her chair, but something else reached Ringmaster before she could; the ghost. He had a transparent hand latched onto Ringmaster's arm, which caused the focus of the spell to be broken. Shun, no longer held in the grips of levitation, dropped to the ground, landing on his feet with cat-like grace.

"What the?!" Ringmaster exclaimed, "You!? I thought you were finished decades ago!" The ghost released Ringmaster and said, "You didn't take all of my life energy that day, so what was left of me has been lingering about in the Nether, waiting for the day you finally fall," the specter said bitterly. Ringmaster spat on the ground beneath the ghost's floating feet.

"I always felt as if I had a pest running about in here," he hissed. The ghost looked from Alice to Shun and said, "You two hurry and get out of here! I'll hold him back." Alice didn't hesitate. She ran across the tent to Shun. Her eyes fell on the chains on his ankles, and an idea came to mind. She reached down and touched the magical bindings, and when her fingertips made contact, the chains vanished into thin air.

_Maybe Shun was right about what he said, _she thought to herself. She would have plenty of time later on to delve through her jumbled thoughts after they were safe. Shun reached out and grabbed Alice's wrist. He gave her a slight tug and said, "Come on, we have to go!" She nodded and allowed him to lead her out of the tent through the hole that Ringmaster had made in the tent's fabric.

They ran through the Nether, heading towards what they felt like was North to try and find the possible opening in the dimension's fabric that the ghost had mentioned early.

And sure enough, way up ahead, Alice saw a light shining through the darkness of this artificial world. And the only thing she could think of at the time was that they might be free from the Nether, but they were far from free of the Circus, and farther from being safe.

* * *

Another day, another chapter. I'm not sure if I will upload again tomorrow (it'll depend on how I feel after school). But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and please read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	14. Mirrored Images

_~O~_

Ringmaster's face turned up in disgust as he watched the two teen's flee from the Nether. He would have pursued them, stopped them before they even had a chance to lay their eyes on the portal he left open, if it weren't for the ghost that floated before him. The ghost, whose name was Trey, if he could recall correctly, had once been a victim of the Ringmaster's many decades ago.

Ringmaster also remembered that Trey had made a good host, quite durable against the intense magic that flowed through Ringmaster's veins. It was almost a shame to know that he hadn't gathered all of the life energy from this particular victim. "Why don't you just stand down?" Ringmaster asked, his voice flat, "It would make things a whole lot easier for us all." The specter narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ringmaster. I've waited far too long for the day when you would finally be defeated, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that you are stopped." This caused the anger to boil up inside of Ringmaster. He clenched his teeth and growled. "Alright, then, we'll do it your way," he snarled. Ringmaster then lifted his hand and sent forth a blast of energy. It just barely missed the ghost.

Swearing under his breath, Ringmaster took aim again, but quickly realized that his target was now gone. He looked around and caught a short glimpse of the specter as it slipped through the fabric wall of the tent. Growling, Ringmaster chased after him. Now, they both floated about in the blackness of the Nether. Being that this was Ringmaster's world, he had very free movement about in the weightless space, but as did his ghost adversary. The only disadvantage Ringmaster had was in rapidly deteriorating form.

He was growing older by the second, and he knew that if he didn't do something soon, he would eventually waste away by the end of the night, maybe even sooner. _I don't have much time or energy to be wasting on getting rid of this little pest, _Ringmaster realized with great disdain. It occurred to him then that he didn't have to get rid of the spirit just yet. Ringmaster could imprison the ghost and get rid of him later once everything else was taken care of.

A sly grin formed on the madman's face. _That's exactly what I'll do. _The ghost had gotten a good lead on Ringmaster, but the distance was no match for magic, especially in a realm that was created from the same magic that tingled at the ends of Ringmaster's fingertips. He lifted his hands up and ripped a tear in the fabric of the dimension.

Stepping through it, Ringmaster was immediately teleported to where he wanted to be; in front of the ghost. Shock lit up on the specter's face. He tried to turn and run, but Ringmaster was faster. A cage of dark magic encompassed the ghost, imprisoning him.

Ringmaster watched as the spirit tried to pass through, only to be jolted back by the power that flowed through the mystical bars. "Now, you stay put. I'll be back shortly," Ringmaster said with a demented grin. As he turned and headed towards the portal he left open, Ringmaster etched the horrified expression of the ghost in his mind; it would be an expression that he would never forget. _One pest down, two more to go. _

_~O~_

Cold, fresh air hit Shun's lungs to moment they fled the Nether and returned to their own world; that was when he realized just how stale the air had actually been in the artificial world. He wanted to stand their and inhale as much of the air as he could, especially when not an hour ago he feared that he'd never be able to breathe in this air ever again.

But Alice was tugging on his wrist and saying, "Come on, Shun! We have to find the others and get out of here before Ringmaster catches us again!" He nodded and started to running again. The night air flooding into his lungs and made his head pound, but he didn't mind it; those were signs that he was still alive, and he had that to owe to Alice. With that thought in his mind, Shun glanced down at her hand, which had latched onto his wrist.

Even in the darkness of night, he could make out the burns and scars that she had received when freeing him from Ringmaster's magical cage; not to mention he could also feel the roughness of the burns on her palms from where she held his wrist. It pained him to know that he was the cause of these injuries, even if there was nothing he could have done about it.

The two of them turned corners around pitch-black tents and bumped past people that walked back and forth from attractions. _They don't even know half of what's going on in this place, _Shun thought grimly. All of the people that had come out that night to see this Circus thought that it was just that; a Circus. They were all ignorant to the fact that a murderer was in control of it.

Shun winced in pain and slowed down his pace. He held onto his sides and bent over as he tried desperately to catch his breath. "Shun, what's wrong?" Alice asked, her voice filled with worry. He grimaced as sharp pain shot through his ribs each time he took in too deep of a breath. "I'm….I'm still a little weak from having nearly all of my life drained," he said breathlessly, "I….I think I just need to sit down for a bit and…..and catch my breath."

Speaking was making him more and more winded with each word. Alice bit down on her lower lip and said nervously, "I don't think we have time to sit down and catch our breath. Ringmaster will be after us in no time. I'm sorry, but we can't afford to stop. Do you think you could push through and keep going?"

Shun understood her logic, and there was no denying the fact that she was right, but the weakness that he was experiencing wasn't just something that could be 'pushed through.' Despite this, he took in a deep breath and nodded. "I can try," he said hoarsely and stood up straight, which sent a shock of pain through his chest.

He winced. It was a given that he was running on energy that he just didn't have at the moment, but to stop meant to waste time and risk another encounter with the Ringmaster, which was something neither one of them wanted. Shun fought through his weakness, though, and did his best to keep up with Alice's pace, even though it was causing him more pain.

"Where do you think the others are?" he asked weakly. Alice glanced around, as if debating on the tents, and finally said, "Last time I saw them they were in the main tent, but I don't know where they went after that. They could be anywhere in the Circus by now…." Shun saw as some of Alice's confidence left her face, and with good reason, too; they didn't have time to search all over the Circus for their friends.

They continued to run, but not for long. Shun lost his footing when an intense bolt of pain shot through his body, causing him to collapse on the ground; he felt a rock dig into his arm and break through the skin when he fell. "Shun!" Alice called and ran to his side.

She hooked her hands under his arm and tried to lift him up to his feet. He would have helped her out by making an attempt to stand, but his body felt as if it had a ton of bricks weighing down on it. "You have to get up," Alice pleaded. He laughed on the cold, hard ground, which felt good against the burning pain in his body, and shook his head. "I can't….I don't have the strength to," he said breathlessly.

He had gone as far as the remainder of his energy could take him, and now his weakened body had reached its limits and required rest before it would move again. Alice continued to pull on his arm. "Shun, please," she begged, "You have to try, just for a little bit longer until we can find the others and get someplace safe. Now, come on, get up."

She gave another tug on his arm, but he made no move to get up; he just didn't have the strength. The ground that he laid on began to feel more and more comfortable, and eventually he closed his eyes and fell asleep, the sounds of Alice's pleading voice fading away into the background.

_~O~_

Alice watched in disbelief as Shun fell unconscious on the ground. She knelt down beside him and shook his shoulder in an attempt to wake him, but her efforts were futile. "Shun, wake up! Now! You have to wake up and keep moving!" she shouted, thinking that if she raised her voice he might hear it, too.

The air around them suddenly grew colder and heavy, causing Alice to look up. Last time the weather had changed like this, the Ringmaster had entered the Nether; it was a way to make his presence known, changing the temperature. Alice grew desperate in her attempts to wake Shun.

She now knew that the Ringmaster was no longer in the Nether, that he had returned to the Circus to find them and exterminate them. She looked up, taking a survey of the area, and caught a glimpse of the Ringmaster up ahead. He turned and looked at them, his eyes blazing red like the blood that he intended to spill that night. Alice's heart jumped into her throat. "Shun! Shun! Get up! Now!" she screamed.

He still didn't stir. Ringmaster was closing in on them fast. Alice had to act quick, or else they were both doomed. Her eyes darted around frantically for something, anything, that she could use or do to help fight back. She eventually caught a glimpse of the sign that hung on the tent closest to them. _House of Mirrors, _it read. That was all she needed to know.

Alice hooked her arms under Shun's and used all of her strength to carry his limp body into the neighboring tent; Shun was a lot heavier than she expected. Once inside the tent, Alice was surrounded by a maze of mirrors, each ranging in size and magnification. Some of the mirrors made her tall and skinny, while others made her short and fat.

On any other occasion, she would have enjoyed the comedic value of the silver-backed glass, but not this time. This House of Mirrors wasn't for her amusement, but rather for her and Shun's protection. Still dragging Shun, Alice navigated through the maze of mirrors, surrounded by infinite reflections of her and Shun. A new reflection was added to their's a second later; the Ringmaster.

His reflection locked eyes with Shun and Alice's. He then lifted his hand and blasted a mirror, shattering it into a million pieces. Alice cried out in surprise. Thankfully, it wasn't a mirror near where she and Shun hid. Ringmaster's eyes scanned the mirrors, debating on which one to target next.

As he lifted his hand, Alice held her breath; there was no way of knowing if he was aiming at them or another mirror until the attack hit. Another mirror shatter, this time a bit closer to where they hid. Alice stared in horror as shards of glass scattered in front of her feet. "Shun, hurry and wake up," she whispered desperately into his ear. Tears started stinging her eyes as more fear took over her already terrified mind.

Then, like an answer to her pleas, Shun's eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked up at her with a dazed and confused expression. He glanced around and asked quietly, "Where are we?" Alice didn't answer his question. Instead, she asked him, "Do you have the energy to get up and run now?" He stared at her, as if not fully understanding her question. Off to the side, another mirror shattered.

"Can you run?" she asked again. Shun continued to stare at her for a moment, then said, "I think I can manage for a bit longer." That was all Alice needed to hear. She helped pull Shun to his feet and ran, leading him through the maze of mirrors until they found another way out. Behind her, she heard the Ringmaster cry out, and then the sound of another mirror shattering.

* * *

Almost didn't upload today, but decided that I had put this chapter off long enough. I'm not going to update tomorrow cause I have an audition for Lions Band again. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	15. Up In Flames

_~O~_

They fled from the House of Mirrors and rounded corners until they finally felt that they had put enough distance between themselves and the Ringmaster. Shun and Alice both were bent over and trying their best to catch their breath; Alice noticed that Shun seemed to be struggling a bit to regain his breathing.

She knew that she had asked a lot out by making him run so soon after regaining consciousness, but it had to be done. If they had stayed there a moment longer, Ringmaster would have found them and killed them. "You okay?" she asked, despite the fact that she already had a hunch of what his answer would be. He glanced up at her, revealing the red flush on his face that he had obtained from running, and said breathlessly, "Yeah….."

Alice knew better. Shun had been so close to death not an hour ago, and now he was having to exert energy that he just didn't have in him. Yet, somehow, he was still managing to push through and keep going. Alice wasn't sure if that was good, or insanely stupid. "Shun? Alice?" a familiar voice said from nearby.

Alice glanced around and saw Dan with the rest of their friends standing behind him. She felt her heart skip a beat. Never before had she been so happy to see her friends. Alice started to run towards them, but stopped when she felt Shun take hold of her wrist. Confused, she turned around and looked at the raven-haired teen, whose face was as serious as she had ever seen it. "Don't go near them," he whispered.

Alice raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why not? They're our friends." Shun glanced from their friends then back to Alice. "It could be a trap," he whispered back, "Mirage pulled this stunt on me earlier. She made me think I was seeing them to capture me." Alice felt her spark of hope die away. What if this was the same thing happening all over again?

She glanced over her shoulder at their friends, or what looked like their friends, then turned back to Shun and asked him, "How do we know if they aren't some trick?" Shun seemed to think this over for a minute. He then stepped towards Dan and the others and said, "Prove to us that you're really our friends." This earner confused expressions from the four friends that stood before them.

Dan was the one to speak up. "What in the world are you talking about, Shun?" The raven-haired didn't even hesitate to respond back. "Say something that only our real friends would know about us," he said sternly. Alice noticed just how tired Shun's voice sounded. He sounded as if he might drop at any second. Dan shook his head and asked, "What the hell is wrong with you, buddy?"

It was Alice's turn to speak up. She said to the brunette, "Just do it, Dan." This got a surprised expression from the others; they obviously didn't expect Alice to be a part of this madness. Dan seemed to have been defeated, though. He let out a sigh and said, "Alright, then. Shun, you and I have known each other since we were kids. Hell, I was there with you when your mother died and helped you through it."

Shun was silent for a moment, as if weighing Dan's words before giving a final judgment. He then sighed, one that was more of relief than disappointment, and said to Alice, "It's them. That's something only Dan would know." That was all Alice needed to hear. She bolted towards their group of friends and embraced Julie and Runo in a hug. Shun, fatigued but calm, slowly approached them afterwards.

"I was worried we'd never find you guys, "Alice said cheerfully. She could feel tears stinging in her eyes, and it occurred to her that she truly believed that she'd never see her friends again. With much reluctance, she released her friends from her embrace and stepped back. Runo, her face twisted in confusion, asked, "Why wouldn't you find us again? You knew we were in the Circus, and if anything, we were starting to wonder if we'd ever find you or Shun. Speaking of which, where have you two been?"

Dan nodded his head and said, "Yeah, both of you look like you've been through hell, especially you, Shun. No offence." The raven-haired teen, too tired to even retort back, simply said, "None taken." Alice saw how Shun would occasionally lose his balance and stumble, but never fell.

It was a given that he wasn't going to stay conscious much longer. "Yeah," Julie said, "What did happen to you two?" Alice had a feeling that Shun wasn't in any condition to elaborate for them, so she took the reigns and began to explain what they both had been through that night.

She told them about Shun's capture and the Ringmaster's plans for him, and then went into detail about her own capture and the ends she went through in order to help free Shun; she left out the part about how love might have played a factor in freeing Shun, seeing that her whole explanation was already far-fetched as it was.

At the end of her story, the others stood there, their faces blank as they tried to comprehend all of the things she just said. Finally, Marucho spoke up and said, "So, what you're telling us is that the Ringmaster is some kind of maniac that's been killing people for hundreds of years and taking on the appearance of those he's killed? And that everything we've seen in this Circus has been real, not some kind of illusion?"

Alice nodded. When Marucho said it, it all sounded even more insane. Before any of them had a chance to reply, Shun spoke up. He told them, "You're all victims of it, too." This earned surprised looks from the others. "What?" Julie asked, her voice going up in pitch like it did whenever she was surprised. Shun nodded. "The main showing was a trap to get everyone in one place at one time so they could sap away some of your own energy and give it to their performers so they can continue on living as well."

Julie tapped her chin with the tip of her fingernail and said, "Now that you mention it, I did feel a little….drained after that performance." The others nodded in agreement. Perhaps that was the final bit of proof they needed to have in order to believe the insane story. Alice turned to them and said, "So, in other words, we need to hurry up and get out of here before-" She didn't have the chance to finish her sentence when the tent beside them burst into black flames.

They all screamed and ran back to escape from the intense heat. The tent began to disintegrate as the fire consumed it, and through the falling rubble, the Ringmaster appeared. He had more age on him, his hair turning white and starting to thin, not to mention the wrinkles that now spread all across his face. "There you two are," he hissed and started towards them. Alice turned and shouted, "Run!"

But they stopped dead in their tracks as they turned around, and Alice quickly saw why; hundreds of snakes slithered about on the ground and blocked their way. Standing behind the reptiles was Mirage, her exotically green eyes glowing. Alice watched as her friends began to panic, so to calm them down, she shouted, "Don't worry, they're not real!" Mirage threw her head back and laughed.

"Just cause they're not real, doesn't mean they still can't bite." She flicked her wrist and one of the snakes struck at Marucho. The reptile burrowed its fangs into the short-blonde's leg. Reacting quickly, Alice reached down and pulled the snake off of Marucho. When she did, she saw the two puncture wounds on his shin and the blood that seeped from them.

Alice knew better than to think they were real; they were just part of Mirage's illusion and plan to scare them into submission. Marucho now sat on the ground, staring at his injury in horror and crying. "It bit me!" he shouted. Alice quickly pulled Marucho to his feet and said, not only to him, but to everyone around her, "They're not real. No matter what it seems like they're doing to you, it's not really happening. They're just mirages." This seemed not only to reassure the others, but Marucho as well. Mirage's face turned up into a look of disgust.

_That's one less threat, but we still have Ringmaster. _Just as this thought crossed her mind, a hand latched onto her shoulder and pulled her away from her friends. Next thing she knew, she was locked in the solid embrace of the Ringmaster. Alice struggled against his hold and screamed, but his grip wouldn't let up. Shun's eyes flared with rage and a renewed energy. "Let her go!" he shouted.

Ringmaster grinned savagely and said, "I don't think so. Both of you are going to die, but I'm going to make sure she dies first so her precious power of love can't interfere with my magic anymore. Then, after that, I will make quick work of you, and then perhaps even kill the rest of your friends while I'm at it." A silver dagger formed in Ringmaster's free hand and he pressed it against Alice's throat.

Each time she took a breath or swallowed, the blade bit into her skin until it finally drew a thin line of blood. She whimpered. Shun took a step back and growled. Ringmaster had him cornered and there was nothing Shun could do about it. But that didn't mean that there wasn't something the others weren't willing to do. Alice saw as Dan picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at Ringmaster.

It struck the hand that held the dagger to Alice's throat, causing him to release it. The blade fell on the ground, and the moment it fell still, Shun dove for it. He snatched it up and stepped back out of Ringmaster's reach. "You really are a fool, aren't you, boy?" Ringmaster sneered, "I can form another dagger in my hand and slit her throat before you even have a chance to charge at me with that blade."

Shun narrowed his eyes and said flatly, "I didn't say anything about attacking you with this dagger, now did I?" Ringmaster's brows furrowed in confusion, as did Alice's. What did Shun plan on accomplishing if he didn't attack Ringmaster? It then occurred to Alice, and she felt her blood run cold. "Don't!" she screamed. Shun's flat expression never changed, even as he pointed the tip of the dagger at his own chest.

Alice heard Ringmaster suck in a sharp breath of air. Shun narrowed his eyes and said, "I thought so. You still have need of me in order to preserve your immortality for a little while longer, and I'm no use to you if I'm dead, now am I? Now, let her go, or you and I will both die." Ringmaster growled, obviously now the one being cornered and feeling helpless. Alice shook hear head and with tears stinging her eyes, shouted, "Don't do it, Shun!"

She didn't want him sacrificing himself for her life. Ringmaster chuckled, and the mere sound of it was enough to send ice down Alice's back. "I don't think you have it in you to end your own life, boy," the Ringmaster sneered, "If you do, then go on ahead, stab yourself in the chest." Alice waited anxiously to see if Shun would call Ringmaster's bluff and do it. She hoped he wouldn't.

Shun narrowed his eyes and said, "And who's to say I wouldn't? Love makes people do stupid things, right?" Alice felt her heart skip a beat. Ringmaster drew in another breath, obviously fully aware that the pure intentions brought on by love left his magic useless. If Shun were to really kill himself in the name of saving Alice, then Ringmaster couldn't do anything to stop him. Shun's eyes then glanced up at the skyline behind Ringmaster, and he dropped the dagger to his side.

"Looks like I won't have to resort to that, though, cause the sun's rising, which mean your time is up, Ringmaster." The sun, still ascending, began to rise above the tents of the Circus and chased away the darkness and shadows. When it touched the Ringmaster, his skin began to smolder. He screamed and cursed at Shun as more light hit him. He then released Alice, and the moment she was free, she ran over to Shun, where she encompassed herself in the safety of his arms.

The Ringmaster continued to scream, and when Alice turned around, she saw why. The skins of hundreds of people he had worn over the course of his lifetime began to fall off until they reached the last one, the one that Ringmaster was born with. He was a shriveled old man with sunken eyes and skeletal bones that were covered with a thin layer of skin. Alice thought she was going to be sick at the sight.

_This is why people aren't meant to live for this long. It's not natural, _she thought to herself. Then, with one final glare at Shun and Alice, the Ringmaster turned to a pile of dust and blew off into the wind. Behind them, Mirage screamed. Alice turned just in time to watch as the beautiful assistant to the Ringmaster began to age before their very eyes, as if she were in a time-lapse video. Then, just as what had happened to Ringmaster, Mirage turned to ash. Her snakes also did the same.

"Is…..Is it over?" Julie asked nervously. The tents that surrounded them then began to burst into fire. People that were inside fled from the burning structures, screaming and shouting. The fire spread from tent to tent, and soon the whole Circus was aflame. People fled to the main gate to escape with their lives. "Let's get out of here!" Dan shouted over the roar of the flames.

They started on their way out, but a tent fell over, blazing with fire and heat, and blocked their path. The fire now surrounded them. "What do we do now?!" Julie shouted over the noise, but nobody could hear her. The smoke started to become too much, so they all dropped to the ground to seek fresh oxygen. However, the smoke was starting to seep down there as well.

Alice could feel herself growing lightheaded as more and more air was taken away from her, and when she looked over at her friends, she saw that they all had already passed out from smoke inhalation. Even Shun laid on the ground unconscious, but whether that was from the smoke or fatigue, she had no way of knowing.

Alice then fell onto her side, wheezing as she struggled to catch her breath. No longer able to stand the heat and smoke anymore, her body gave up its fight, and she joined her friends in their state of unconsciousness.

* * *

One more chapter and this story will be done. I'm thankful for all of those who stuck with me through this story, even though I said that I'd be finished with it by Halloween. Anywho, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so read and please leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


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